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NORTH  CAROLINA  STATE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


S02069506  S 


THE  WELL-CONSIDERED  GARDEN 


THE 

WELL-CONSIDERED 

GARDEN 


BY 
MRS.  FRANCIS  KING 

AUTHOR  OF  "PAGES  FROM  A  GARDEN  NOTEBOOK' 


ILLUSTRATED 


WITH    PREFACE    BY 

GERTRUDE  JEKYLL 


NEW  AND  REVISED  EDITION 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
I^EWYORK  ::  ::  ::MCMXXIII 


Copyright,  1915,  1922,  bt 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

Published  May,  1915 
Reprinted  October,  1915 
May,  1916;  April,  1917 

Revised  Edition 
Published  March,  1922 
Reprinted  April,  1923 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


&B9IIOO  &7i»l3  'O  'N 

Ayvyen 


LIBRARY 

N.  r  r 


r^ 

^'-^^r-r^e 

TO 

THE   DEAR  MEMORY 

or 

A 

RARE    GARDENER 

A.  R.  K. 

N.  C.  State  Coil0ge 


NOTE 

To  the  publishers  and  editors  of  The  Garden 
Magazine  my  thanks  are  due  for  kind  permission 
to  reprint  here  those  portions  of  this  book  which 
originally  appeared  in  the  columns  of  that  peri- 
odical. To  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety and  to  The  Garden  Club  of  America  I  am 
indebted  for  the  use  of  passages  written  for  those 
organizations.  And  to  the  several  amateur  gar- 
deners, known  and  unknown  to  me,  whose  writing 
or  whose  photographs  grace  these  pages,  I  offer 
here  most  hearty  appreciation  of  their  friendly 

aid. 

Louisa  Yeomans  King. 

Orchard  House, 
Ai^A,  Michigan. 


PREFACE 

The  wide-spread  interest  in  gardening  that  is 
steadily  growing  throughout  the  land  will  have 
prepared  a  large  public  for  the  reception  of  such 
stimulating  encouragement  as  will  be  found  in 
the  following  pages.  One  thinks  of  a  great  and 
fertile  field  ready  ploughed  and  sown,  and  only 
waiting  for  genial  warmth  and  moisture  to  make 
it  burst  forth  into  life  and  eventual  abundance. 
The  book  will  come  as  these  vivifying  influences. 
The  author's  practical  knowledge,  keen  insight, 
and  splendid  enthusiasm,  her  years  of  labor  on 
her  own  land  and  her  constant  example  and  en- 
couragement of  others  —  combine  to  make  her  one 
of  those  most  fitted  to  direct  energy,  to  suggest 
and  instruct  —  to  communicate  her  own  thought 
and  practise  to  willing  learners. 

Many  are  those  who  love  their  gardens,  many 
who  know  their  plants,  many  who  understand  their 
best  ways  of  culture.  All  these  qualities  or  accom- 
plishments are  necessary,  but  besides  and  above 
them  all  is  the  will  or  determination  to  do  the  best 
possible  —  "to  garden  finely"  —  as  Bacon  puts  it. 


PREFACE 

Such  a  desire  is  often  felt,  but  from  lack  of  ex- 
perience it  cannot  be  brought  into  effect.  What 
is  needed  for  the  doing  of  the  best  gardening  is 
something  of  an  artist's  training,  or  at  any  rate 
the  possession  of  such  a  degree  of  aptitude  —  the 
God-given  artist's  gift  —  as  with  due  training  may 
make  an  artist;  for  gardening,  in  its  best  expres- 
sion, may  well  rank  as  one  of  the  fine  arts.  But 
without  the  many  years  of  labor  needed  for 
any  hope  of  success  in  architecture,  sculpture,  or 
painting,  there  are  certain  simple  rules,  whose 
observance,  carried  out  in  horticulture,  will  make 
all  the  difference  between  a  garden  that  is  utterly 
commonplace  and  one  that  is  full  of  beauty  and 
absorbing  interest. 

Of  these  one  of  the  chief  is  a  careful  considera- 
tion of  color  arrangement.  Early  in  her  garden- 
ing career  this  fact  impressed  itself  upon  the 
author's  mind.  A  study  of  the  book  reveals  the 
method  and  gives  a  large  quantity  of  applied 
example.  A  few  such  lessons  put  in  practise  will 
assuredly  lead  on  to  independent  effort;  for  the 
learner,  diligently  reading  and  carefully  following 
the  good  guidance,  will  soon  find  the  way  open  to 
a  whole  new  field  of  beauty  and  delight. 

Gertrude  Jekyll. 


PREFACE    TO    NEW    EDITION 

Such  success  of  this  book  as  seems  to  call  for  a 
second  edition  is  most  surely  due  to  two  things:  to 
its  sponsor,  Miss  Jekyll,  through  her  kind  preface, 
and  to  the  ever-growing  interest  in  gardening  in 
America.  That  this  interest  is  many  times 
greater  now  than  seven  years  ago,  when  "The 
Well-Considered  Garden"  was  published,  is  evi- 
dent to  all  who  watch  these  things.  Seedsmen 
and  nurserymen  have  difficulty  in  meeting  the  de- 
mands for  their  wares.  Periodicals  dealing  with 
gardens  find  steady  growth  in  distribution.  Books 
on  gardening  have  an  immense  vogue.  Garden 
talk  is  heard  on  every  hand.  Organizations  con- 
cerned with  gardening,  special  plant  societies — all, 
by  their  intense  activity,  bear  witness  to  the  spread 
of  this  fascinating  pursuit  in  our  time. 

But  many  there  are  who  have  no  gardens  yet. 
Let  these  heed  this  warm  exhortation  from  the 
charming  writer  of  *'The  Garden  of  Experience,'* 
Mrs.  Cran: 

zi 


PREFACE    TO    NEW    EDITION 

"Having  suffered  the  extreme  of  desire,  I  feel 
therefore  the  most  real  sympathy  with  all  who 
would  have  and  have  not  a  garden.  To  them  I 
speak.  To  them  I  say  —  get  one.  Make  a  way  to 
the  heart's  need." 

Louisa  Yeomans  King. 

Orchard  House, 
Alma,  Michigan. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Color  Harmony 1 

II.    Companion  Crops 25 

III.  Succession  Crops 39 

IV.  Joys  and  Sorrows  of  a  Trial  Garden      .  51 
V.     Balance  in  the  Flower  Garden      ...  63 

VI.     Color  Harmonies  in  the  Spring  Garden  .  75 

VII.     The  Crocus  and  Other  Early  Bulbs  .      .  89 

VIII.     Color  Arrangements  for  Darwin  Tulips 

AND  Other  Spring-Flowering  Bulbs       .  101 

IX.     Notes  on  Spring  Flowers 115 

X.     A  Small  Spring  Flower  Border      .      .      .  129 

XI.     Notes  on  Some  of  the  Newer  Gladioli   .  143 

XII.     Midsummer  Pomps 157 

XIII.     Garden  Notes  in  1921 179 

XrV.    The  Garden  at  Orchard  House       .      .      .  219 
by  s.  w.  hendrie 

Index 227 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Sea  Lavender  and  Delphinium  in  a  Nantucket  Garden    Frontispiece 

rACINO  PAOB 

Tulip  Kaufmanniana  with  Scilla  Sibirica 16 

Tuh'ps  Reverend  H.  Ewbank  and  Clara  Butt,  below  Blooming 

Lilac 16 

Sea-holly  and  Phlox  Pantheon 22 

Phlox  Aurore  Boreale,  Sea-holly,  and  Chrysanthemum  Maxi- 
mum        22 

Muscari  Heavenly  Blue,  Tulipa  Retroflexa,  and  Myosotis 

along  Brick  Walk 28 

Arabis  and  Tulip  Cottage  Maid         28 

Double  Gypsophila  and  Shasta  Daisy 28 

Gypsophila  and  Lilies  in  the  Garden 32 

The  Time  of  Lilies  and  Delphiniums 36 

Borders  of  Pale  Blue,  Blue-Purple,  and  Pale  Yellow  ...  42 

Tulip  Cottage  Maid  with  Arabis  Alpina 42 

Munstead  Primrose  and  Tulip  White  Swan  on  Slope  below 

Poplar  and  Pine 46 

Peonies  and  Canterbury  Bells 48 

Discreet  Use  of  Rambler  Rose,  Lady  Gay 48 

;XV, 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

Heuchera  Sanguinea  Hybrids 56 

Rambler  Rose  Lady  Gay  over  Gate 56 

Hybrid  Columbines  below  Briar  Rose  Lady  Penzance       .      .  60 

Narcissus  Barri  Flora  Wilson 60 

The  Time  of  Gypsophila 68 

Hardy  Asters  in  September 72 

Puschkinia  below  Shrubs 80 

Tulip  Kaufmanniana  in  Border 80 

Tulip  Viridiflora  Prsecox 86 

Hyacinthus  Lineatus,  Var.  Azureus 98 

Tulip  Kaufmanniana 98 

Tulip  Safrano  (Brimstone)  and  Myosotis  below  Young  Lilacs  104 

Pink  Canterbury  Bells,  Stachys  Lanata 110 

Bellis  Perennis  and  Narcissus  Poeticus 110 

Darwin  Tulips  with  Iris  Germanica 122 

A  Spring  Flower  Border  in  Pale  Blue,  Yellow,  and  Mauve     .  132 

Gladiolus  America  below  Buddleia 150 

Delphmimn  La  France,  Campanula  Persicifolia,  Digitalis  Am- 

bigua,  and  Pyrethrum 160 

Delphiniums  the  Alake  and  Statuaire  Rude       .      .      ,      .      .  164 

Buddleia  Variabilis  Magnifica,  White  Zinnia  below      .      .      .172 

Planting  Plans  for  Color End  of  Volume 

Color  Arrangement  of  Late  Tulips 

Suggestion  for  Sprmg  Planting  before  Shrubbery 

Parterre  of  Spring  Flowers  (City) 

Section  of  Simple  Planting  against  Brick  Wall 

xvi 


COLOR   HARMONY 


"The  simple  magic  of  color  for  its  own  sake  can  never 
be  displaced,  yet  a  garden  in  the  highest  sense  means  more 
than  this."— E.  V.  B. 


COLOR    HARMONY 

THE  broadest  consideration  of  color  in  gar- 
dening would  turn  our  minds  to  the  gen- 
eral color  effect  of  a  garden  in  relation  to  its  large 
setting  of  country.  Was  it  not  Ruskin  who,  in 
spite  of  his  rages  at  the  average  mid-Victorian 
garden,  said  that  gardens  as  well  as  houses  should 
be  of  a  general  color  to  harmonize  with  the  sur- 
rounding country  —  certain  tones  for  the  simple 
blue  country  of  England,  others  for  the  colder 
gray  country  of  Italy  ?  Never  was  sounder  color 
advice  given  than  that  contained  in  the  following 
lines  from  one  of  the  Oxford  Lectures:  "Bluish 
purple  is  the  only  flower  color  which  nature  ever 
used  in  masses  of  distant  effect;  this,  however, 
she  does  in  the  case  of  most  heathers  —  with  the 
rhododendron  {ferrugineum) ,  and  less  extensively 
with  the  colder  color  of  the  wood  hyacinth;  ac- 
cordingly, the  large  rhododendron  may  be  used 
to  almost  any  extent  in  masses;  the  pale  varieties 
of  the  rose  more  sparingly,  and  on  the  turf  the 
3 

HWfERTT  UWMltr 

n.  C.  suite  CMtt^ 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

wild  violet  and  the  pansy  should  be  sown  by 
chance,  so  that  they  may  grow  in  undulations  of 
color,  and  should  be  relieved  by  a  few  prim- 
roses." 

There  never  was  so  rich  a  time  as  the  present 
for  the  great  quantity  of  material  available  for  use 
in  the  study  of  garden  color.  The  range  of  tones 
in  flowers  to-day  is  almost  measureless.  Never  be- 
fore were  seen  pinks  of  such  richness,  such  deep 
velvetlike  violets,  delicate  buffs  and  salmons, 
actual  blues,  vivid  orange  tones,  pale  beautiful 
lavenders.  Through  the  magic  of  the  hybridizers 
we  are  to-day  without  excuse  for  ugliness  in  the 
garden.  The  horticultural  palette  is  furnished 
forth  indeed.  Take  perennial  phloxes  alone:  for 
rich  violet-purple  we  have  Lord  Rayleigh;  for 
the  redder  purple.  Von  Hochberg;  for  the  laven- 
ders which  should  be  used  with  these,  E.  Dan- 
zanvilliers  and  Antonin  Mercie;  for  whites,  the 
wondrous  von  Lassburg  and  the  low  but  effec- 
tive Tapis  Blanc;  w^hile  in  the  list  of  vivid  or 
delicate  pinks  not  one  of  these  is  unworthy  of  a 
place  in  the  finest  gardens:  T.  A.  Strohlein, 
Gruppen,  Konigin,  General  von  Heutz,  Selma, 
Bridesmaid,  General  Chanzy,  Jules  Cambon,  and 
Elizabeth  Campbell  (already  an  established  favor- 
4 


COLOR    HARMONY 

ite  in  England  and  now  offered  in  America) ;  Ellen 
Willmott,  too,  a  pale-gray  phlox,  should  be  im- 
mensely useful. 

I  have  to  confess  to  a  faint  prejudice  against 
stripes,  flakes,  or  eyes  in  phloxes,  principally  be- 
cause, as  a  rule,  the  best  effects  in  color  group- 
ings are  obtained  by  the  use  of  flowers  of  clear, 
solid  tones  —  otherwise  one  cannot  count  upon  the 
result  of  one's  planning.  With  the  eye,  an  unex- 
pected element  enters  into  our  composition. 

Among  irises  what  a  possible  range  of  color 
pictures  in  lavenders,  blues,  bronzes,  yellows, 
springs  up  to  the  mind's  eye  with  the  very  men- 
tion of  the  flower's  musical  name!  The  immense 
choice  of  species  and  varieties,  the  difference  in 
form  and  height,  and  more  notably  the  unending 
number  of  their  lovely  hues,  make  the  iris  family 
a  true  treasure-house  for  the  good  flower  gardener. 
The  first-comer  of  our  spring  iris  festival  is  the 
shy,  stiff  Iris  reticulata  of  four  inches;  the  last  of 
the  lovely  guests  is  the  great  white  English  iris 
of  four  feet;  and  those  showing  themselves  be- 
tween the  opening  and  closing  days  of  iris  time 
are  of  many  nations — German,  Japanese,  Siberian, 
English,  Dutch. 

Tulips,  so  highly  developed  in  our  day,  present 
5 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

a  wonderful  field  of  color  from  which  to  choose; 
so  does  the  dahlia  tribe.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
glaring  faults  in  color  planting  in  our  gardens  are 
not  due  to  lack  of  good  material. 

The  question  of  absolute  color  is  a  very  nice 
question  indeed,  and  reminds  one  of  the  old  prov- 
erb of  one  man's  meat  being  another  man's  poison. 
We  cannot  say  that  a  given  color  is  ugly.  Its 
beauty  or  lack  of  beauty  depends  upon  its  rela- 
tion to  other  colors.  To  announce  that  one  dis- 
likes mauve  is  not  to  prove  mauve  unbeautiful. 
Most  of  us  who  have  prejudices  against  a  certain 
color  would  be  amazed  at  the  effect  upon  our  color 
sense  of  the  offensive  hue  when  judiciously  used 
with  correlated  tones.  For  instance,  what  com- 
moner than  to  hear  this  exclamation  as  one  wan- 
ders in  an  August  garden  where  a  clump  of  tall 
phloxes  have  reverted  to  the  magenta,  despised 
of  most  of  us,  and  where  the  hostess's  shears  have 
been  spared,  to  the  spoiling  of  the  garden:  "What 
a  horrible  color  has  that  phlox  taken  on!"  But 
take  that  same  group  of  flowering  stems  another 
year,  back  it  by  the  pale  spires  of  Physostegia 
Virginica  rosea,  see  that  the  phlox  Lord  Rayleigh 
blooms  beside  it,  that  a  good  lavender  like  Antonin 
Mercie  is  hard  by,  let  some  masses  of  rich  purple 
6 


COLOR    HARMONY 

petunia  have  their  will  below,  with  perhaps  the 
flat  panicles  of  large-flowered  white  verbena,  a  few 
spikes  of  the  gladiolus  Baron  Hulot,  and  some 
trusses  of  a  pinkish-lavender  heliotrope  judiciously 
disposed,  and  lo  !  the  ugliness  of  the  magenta  phlox 
has  been  transmuted  into  a  positive  beauty  and 
become  an  active  agent  toward  the  loveliness  of 
the  whole  picture. 

What  a  lucky  thing  for  us  delvers  into  plant 
and  seed  lists  if  the  color  tests  of  railways  —  on  a 
more  elaborate  and  delicate  scale,  to  be  sure  — 
could  be  applied  to  the  eyes  of  the  writers  of  color 
descriptions  for  these  publications!  The  only 
available  guide  to  the  absolute  color  of  flowers  of 
which  I  happen  to  know  is  the  "Repertoire  de 
Couleurs,"  published  by  the  Chrysanthemum 
Society  of  France.  Of  this  there  is  soon  to  be 
published  a  pocket  edition;  and  the  American 
Gladiolus  Society  has  a  somewhat  similar  proj- 
ect under  consideration.  Here  we  have  in  the 
French  publication  a  criterion,  a  standard;  and 
if  this  were  oftener  consulted  the  gardening  world 
of  this  country  would  be  working  on  a  much 
higher  plane  than  is  the  case  to-day. 

So  much  for  the  range  of  color  in  our  flower 
gardens,  for  the  relative  and  absolute  values  of 
7 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

flower  colors;  but  what  of  the  abuse  of  these 
things?  May  I  give  an  instance?  Not  long 
since  there  came  to  my  eye  that  which  it  is  always 
my  dehght  to  see,  the  landscape  architect's  plan 
of  a  fine  Italian  garden.  For  the  spring  adorn- 
ment of  this  garden  such  hyacinths  and  tulips 
were  specified  as  at  once  to  cause,  in  my  mind  at 
least,  grave  doubts  concerning  color  harmonies, 
periods  of  bloom.  Were  certain  ones  early,  would 
certain  ones  be  late?  —  as,  to  secure  a  brilliantly  gay 
effect,  two  or  three  varieties  should  surely  flower 
together.  For  my  own  pleasure,  I  worked  out 
a  substitute  set  of  bulbs  and  sent  it  to  an  au- 
thority on  color  in  spring-growing  things  in  this 
country,  who  thus  wrote  of  the  original  plan: 
"In  regard  to  the  color  combinations  upon  which 
you  asked  my  comment,  I  can  only  say  that  they 
are  a  fair  sample  of  how  little  most  folks  know 
about  bulbs.  In  the  bed  of  hyacinths.  King  of 
the  Blues  will  prove  quite  too  dark  for  the  other 
colors;  Perle  Brillante  or  Electra  would  have  been 
much  better.  In  the  two  tulip  combinations  I 
can  see  no  harmony  at  all.  Keizerkroon,  in  my 
opinion,  should  never  be  planted  with  any  other 
tulips.  Its  gaudiness  is  too  harsh  unless  it  is  seen 
by  itself.  Furthermore,  both  Rose  Luisante  and 
8 


COLOR    HARMONY 

White  Swan  will  bloom  just  enough  later  not  to  be 
right  when  the  others  are  in  their  prime." 

Now,  what  is  the  good  of  our  finest  gardens  if 
they  are  to  be  thus  misused  and  the  owners'  taste 
misdirected  in  this  fashion?  We  spend  our  money 
for  that  which  is  not  bread. 

I  have  a  new  profession  to  propose,  a  profession 
of  specialists:  it  should  be  called  that  of  the  gar- 
den colorist.  The  office  shall  be  distinct  from 
that  of  the  landscape  architect,  distinct  indeed 
from  those  whose  oflfice  it  already  is  to  prescribe 
the  plants  for  the  garden.  The  garden  colorist 
shall  be  qualified  to  plant  beautifully,  according 
to  color,  the  best-planned  gardens  of  our  best 
designers.  It  shall  be  his  duty,  first,  to  possess  a 
true  color  instinct;  second,  to  have  had  much 
experience  in  the  growing  of  flowers,  notably  in 
the  growing  of  varieties  in  form  and  color;  third, 
so  to  make  his  planting  plans  that  there  shall  be 
successive  pictures  of  loveliness  melting  into  each 
other  with  successive  months;  and  last,  he  must 
pay,  if  possible,  a  weekly  visit  to  his  gardens,  for 
no  eye  but  his  discerning  one  will  see  in  them 
the  evil  and  the  good.  This  profession  will  doubt- 
less have  its  first  recruits  from  the  ranks  of  women; 
at  least,  according  to  Mr.  W.  C.  Egan,  the  color 
9 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

sense  is  far  oftener  the  attribute  of  women  than 
of  men.  Still,  there  is  the  art  of  painting  to  refute 
this  argument. 

Color  as  an  aid  to  garden  design  is  a  matter 
ever  present  to  my  mind  where  a  plan  of  high 
beauty  has  been  adopted  and  already  carried 
out.  One  occasionally  sees  a  fine  garden  which, 
due  to  the  execrable  color  arrangement,  must  of 
necessity  be  more  interesting  in  winter  than  in 
summer.  Sir  WilHam  Eden's  plea  for  the  flower- 
less  garden  comes  to  mind: 

"I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  flowers 
that  ruin  a  garden,  at  any  rate  many  gardens: 
flowers  in  a  cottage  garden,  yes,  hollyhocks 
against  a  gray  wall;  orange  lilies  against  a  white 
one;  white  lilies  against  a  mass  of  green;  aubrietia 
and  arabis  and  thrift  to  edge  your  walks.  Del- 
phiniums against  a  yew  hedge,  and  lavender  any- 
where. But  the  delight  in  color,  as  people  say, 
in  large  gardens  is  the  offensive  thing:  flowers 
combined  with  shrubs  and  trees,  the  gardens  of 
the  Riviera,  for  instance,  Cannes,  and  the  much- 
praised,  vulgar  Monte  Carlo  —  beds  of  begonias, 
cinerarias  at  the  foot  of  a  palm,  the  terrible  crim- 
son rambler  trailing  around  its  trunk.  J^  have 
never  seen  a  garden  of  taste  in  France.  Go  to 
10 


COLOR    HARMONY 

Italy,  go  to  Tivoli,  and  then  you  will  see  what  I 
mean  by  the  beauty  of  a  garden  without  flowers: 
yews,  cypresses,  statues,  steps,  fountains  —  sombre, 
dignified,  restful." 

But  when  planting  is  right,  when  great  groups 
of,  say,  white  hydrangea,  when  tall  rows  of  holly- 
hocks of  harmonious  color,  when  delicate  gar- 
lands of  such  a  marvellous  rambler  as  Tausend- 
schon,  low  flat  plantings  of  some  fine  verbena  hke 
Beauty  of  Oxford  or  the  purple  Dolores  —  when 
such  fine  materials  are  used  to  produce  an  effect 
of  balanced  beauty,  to  heighten  the  loveliness  of 
proportion  and  of  line  already  lying  before  one 
in  stone  or  brick,  in  turf  or  gravel,  in  well-devised 
treUis  or  beautifully  groomed  hedge,  what  an  emi- 
nence of  beauty  may  then  be  reached! 

The  form  and  color  of  flowers,  in  my  opinion, 
should  be  considered  as  seriously  for  the  formal 
garden  as  the  soil  about  their  roots. 

Effects  wuth  tall  flowers,  liHes,  delphiniums;  with 
dwarf  flowers,  hardy  candytuft,  for  instance;  with 
lacelike  flowers,  the  heucheras,  the  gypsophilas; 
with  round-trussed  flowers,  phloxes;  with  massive- 
leaved  flowers,  the  funkias  or  Crambe  cordifolia  ; 
with  slender  flowers,  gladiolus,  salpiglossis;  with 
low  spreading  flowers,  statice,  annual  phloxes; 
11 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

with  delicately  branching  flowers,  the  annual  lark- 
spurs —  what  an  endless  array  in  the  matter  of 
form  and  habit !  The  trouble  with  most  of  us  is 
that  we  try  to  get  in  all  the  flowers,  and  also  we 
often  go  so  far  as  to  insist  on  using  all  the  colors 
too  —  with  a  result  usually  terrific. 

On  the  other  hand,  according  to  a  capital  Eng- 
lish writer,  "the  present  taste  is  a  little  too  timid 
about  mixtures  and  contrasts  of  color.  Few  of 
those  who  advise  upon  the  color  arrangements  of 
flowers  seem  to  be  aware  that  nearly  all  colors  go 
well  together  in  a  garden,  if  only  they  are  thor- 
oughly mixed  up.  It  is  the  half-hearted  con- 
trasts where  only  two  or  three  colors  are  em- 
ployed, and  those  the  wrong  ones,  that  are  really 
ugly.  The  Orientals  know  more  about  color  than 
we  do,  and  in  their  coloring  they  imitate  the  au- 
dacity and  profusion  of  nature." 

Those  who  lead  us  in  these  matters  will,  I  am 
sure,  gradually  and  gently  conduct  us  to  an  aus- 
terer  taste,  a  wish  for  more  simplicity  of  effect  in 
our  gardens  —  the  sure  path,  if  the  narrow  one,  to 
beauty  in  gardening. 

The  stream  of  my  horticultural  thought  runs 
here  a  trifle  narrower,  and  I  see  the  charm  of 
gardens  of  one  color  alone  —  these,  of  course,  with 
12 


COLOR    HARMONY 

the  varying  tones  of  such  a  color,  and  with  the 
hberal  or  sparing  use  of  white  flowers.  It  is,  I 
think,  a  daughter  of  Du  Maurier  whose  English 
garden  is  one  lovely  riot,  the  summer  through,  of 
mauve,  purple,  cool  pink,  and  white.  I  can  fancy 
nothing  more  lovely  if  it  receive  the  artist's  touch. 
A  garden  of  rich  purples,  brilliant  blues  and  their 
paler  shades,  with  cream  and  white,  could  be  a 
masterpiece  in  the  right  hand. 

Such  was,  a  summer  or  two  since,  the  garden  at 
Ashridge,  Lord  Brownlow's  fine  place  in  England, 
the  following  brief  description  of  which  was  sent 
me  by  the  hand  that  planted  it:  "Purple  and 
blue  beds  at  Ashridge  (very  difficult  to  get  enough 
blue  when  tall  blue  delphiniums  are  over).  Blue 
delphinium,  blue  salvia  (August  and  September), 
purple  clematis,  single  petunia,  violas,  purple 
sweet  peas,  salpiglossis,  stocks,  blue  nemesia,  blue 
branching  annual  delphinium,  purple  perennial 
phloxes,  purple  gladiolus." 

The  past  mistress  of  the  charming  art  of  color 
combination  in  gardening  is,  without  doubt.  Miss 
Jekyll,  the  well-known  English  writer;  and  to 
the  practised  amateur,  I  commend  her  "Colour 
in  the  Flower  Garden"  as  the  last  word  in  truly 
artistic  planting,  and  full  of  valuable  suggestion 
13 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

for  one  who  has  worked  with  flowers  long  enough 
to  have  mastered  the  compHcations  of  his  soil 
and  cHmate. 

Miss  Jekyll's  remarks  on  the  varying  concep- 
tions of  color  I  must  here  repeat,  in  order  to  make 
the  descriptions  below  as  well  understood  as  pos- 
sible. "I  notice,"  she  writes,  on  page  227  of 
"Wood  and  Garden,"  *'in  plant  lists,  the  most 
reckless  and  indiscriminate  use  of  the  words  purple, 
violet,  mauve,  Hlac,  and  lavender;  and,  as  they 
are  all  related,  I  think  they  should  be  used  with 
greater  caution.  I  should  say  that  mauve  and 
lilac  cover  the  same  ground.  The  word  mauve 
came  into  use  within  my  recollection.  It  is  French 
for  mallow,  and  the  flower  of  the  wild  plant  may 
stand  as  the  type  of  what  the  word  means.  Lav- 
ender stands  for  a  colder  or  bluer  range  of  pale 
purples,  with  an  inclination  to  gray;  it  is  a  useful 
word,  because  the  whole  color  of  the  flower  spike 
varies  so  little.  Violet  stands  for  the  dark  gar- 
den violet,  and  I  always  think  of  the  grand  color 
of  Iris  reticulata  as  an  example  of  a  rich  violet- 
purple.  But  purple  equally  stands  for  this,  and 
for  many  shades  redder." 

In  an  earlier  paragraph  the  same  writer  refers 
to  the  common  color  nomenclature  of  the  average 
14 


COLOR    HARMONY 

seed  or  bulb  list  as  "slip-slop,"  and  indeed  the 
name  is  none  too  hard  for  the  descriptive  mis- 
takes in  most  of  our  own  catalogues.  Mrs.  Sedg- 
wick in  "The  Garden  Month  by  Month"  provides 
a  valuable  color  chart;  so  far  as  I  know,  she  is 
the  pioneer  in  this  direction  in  this  country.  Why 
should  not  books  for  beginners  in  gardening  af- 
ford suggestions  for  color  harmony  in  planting,  a 
juxtaposition  of  plants  slightly  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary routine,  orange  near  blue,  sulphur-yellow  near 
blue,  and  so  on  ?  A  well-known  book  for  the  ama- 
teur is  Miss  Shelton's  "The  Seasons  in  a  Flower 
Garden."  This  httle  volume  shows  charming 
taste  in  advice  concerning  flower  groupings  for 
color.  I  look  forward  to  the  day  when  a  serious 
color  standard  for  flowers  shall  be  established  by 
the  appearance  in  America  of  such  a  publication 
as  the  "Repertoire  de  Couleurs"  sent  out  by  the 
Societe  Frangaise  des  Chrysanthemistes.  To  this 
the  makers  of  catalogues  might  turn  as  infallible; 
and  on  this  those  who  plant  for  artistic  combina- 
tion of  color  might  rely. 

In  the  groupings  for  color  effect  given  below 

there  has  been  no  absolute  copying  of  any  one's 

suggestions.     To   work   out   these   plantings   my 

plan  has  always  been,  first  to  make  notes  on  the 

15 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

same  day  of  each  week  of  flowers  in  full  bloom. 
Then,  by  cutting  certain  blooms  and  holding  them 
against  others,  a  happy  contrast  or  harmony  of 
color  is  readily  seen,  and  noted  for  trial  in  the 
following  year. 

BLUE   AND   CREAM- WHITE  —  MARCH 

The  earliest  blooming  color  combination  of 
which  I  can  speak  from  experience  is  illustrated  on 
the  facing  page.  Here,  backed  by  Mahonia,  and 
blooming  in  one  season  as  early  as  late  March, 
thrives  a  most  lovely  group  of  blue  and  cream- 
white  spring  flowers.  Tulipa  Kaufmanniana,  open- 
ing full  always  in  the  sun,  spreads  its  deep  creamy 
petals,  while  below  these  tulips  a  few  hundred 
Scilla  Sibirica  show  brilliantly  blue.  To  the  right 
bloodroot  is  white  with  blossoms  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, while  behind  this  the  creamy  pointed  buds 
of  Narcissus  Orange  Phoenix  carry  along  the  tone 
of  the  cream-white  tuHp.  Narcissus  Orange  Phce- 
nix  is  a  great  favorite  of  mine;  leader  of  all  the 
double  daffodils,  I  think  it,  with  the  exception  of 
Narcissus  poeticus,  var.  plenus,  the  gardenia  nar- 
cissus, with  its  true  gardenia  scent  and  full  ivory- 
white  blooms;  with  me,  however,  this  narcissus 
so  seldom  produces  a  flower  that  I  have  given 
16 


COLOR    HARMONY 

up  growing  it.     Where  this  does  well,  the  most 
delicious  color  combinations  should  be  possible. 

As  for  Tulipa  Kaufmanniana,  earhest  of  all 
tulips  to  bloom,  it  is  such  a  treasure  to  the  lover 
of  spring  flowers  that  the  sharp  advance  in  its 
price  made  within  the  last  two  or  three  years  by 
the  Dutch  growers  is  bad  news  indeed  for  the 
gardener.  A  tulip  of  surprising  beauty,  this,  with 
distinction  of  form,  creamy  petals,  with  a  soft 
daffodil-yellow  tone  toward  the  centre,  the  out- 
side of  the  petals  nearly  covered  with  a  very  nice 
tone  of  rich  reddish-pink.  Its  appearance  when 
closed  is  unusually  good,  and  its  color  really  ex- 
cellent with  the  blue  of  the  Scillas. 

BLUE   AND    PURPLE  —  APRIL 

A  very  daring  experiment  this  was,  but  one 
which  proved  so  interesting  in  rich  color  that  it 
will  be  always  repeated.  It  consisted  of  sheets 
of  S cilia  Sibirica  planted  near  and  really  running 
into  thick  colonies  of  Crocus  purpureus,  var. 
grandijlorus.  The  two  strong  tones  of  color  are 
almost  those  of  certain  modern  stained  glass.  The 
briUiancy  of  April  grass  provides  a  fine  setting  for 
this  bold  planting  in  a  shrubbery  border.  The 
little  bulbs  should  be  set  very  close,  and  the 
17 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

patches  of  color,  in  the  main,  should  be  well  de- 
fined. In  fact,  I  prefer  a  large  sheet  of  each  color 
to  several  smaller  groups  with  a  resultant  spotty 
effect.  To  my  thinking,  it  is  impossible  to  im- 
agine a  finer  early  spring  effect  in  either  a  small 
or  a  large  place  than  these  two  bulbs  in  these  two 
varieties  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else. 

The  dwarf  Iris  reticulata  —  which  should  be 
better  known,  as  no  early  bulb  is  hardier,  richer 
in  color  and  in  scent  —  with  its  deep  violet-purple 
flowers,  planted  closely  in  large  masses,  with 
spreading  groups  of  Scilla  near  by,  would  produce 
an  effect  of  blue  and  purple  nearly  like  that  above 
described. 

PINK,    LAVENDER,   AND   CREAM- WHITE  —  MAY 

A  fine  effect  for  late  May,  that  has  rejoiced 
my  eye  for  some  years,  is  shown  facing  page  16. 
The  flowers  form  the  front  of  a  shrubbery  border 
composed  entirely  of  Lemoine's  lilacs  in  such  va- 
rieties as  Marie  le  Graye  (white),  Charles  X 
(deep  purplish-red),  Madame  Abel  Chatenay 
(double,  white).  President  Grevy  (double,  blue), 
Emile  Lemoine  (double,  pinkish),  and  Azurea 
(light  blue).  While  these  are  at  their  best,  droop- 
ing sprays  of  bleeding-heart  (dicentra)  show  their 


COLOR    HARMONY 

rather  bluish  pink  in  groups  below,  with  irregular 
clumps  of  a  pearly  lavender  —  a  very  light-gray- 
ish lavender  —  lent  by  Iris  Germanica.  A  little 
back  of  the  irises,  their  tall  stems  being  considered, 
stand  groups  now  of  the  fine  Darwin  tulip  Clara 
Butt,  now  of  tuhp  Reverend  H.  Ewbank.  The 
slightly  bluish  cast  of  Clara  Butt's  pink  binds 
the  dicentra  and  the  lavender,  lilac,  and  iris  to 
each  other,  and  the  whole  effect  is  deepened  and 
almost  focussed  by  the  strong  lavender  of  Rever- 
end H.  Ewbank  tulip,  in  whose  petals  it  is  quite 
easy  to  see  a  pinkish  tone.  The  contrast  in  form 
and  habit  of  growth  in  such  a  border  is  worth 
noticing.  The  lilacs  topping  everything  with 
their  candlelike  trusses  of  flowers;  the  dicentra, 
the  next  tallest,  horizontal  Hues  against  the  lilacs' 
perpendicular,  as  well  as  a  foliage  of  extreme  deli- 
cacy, contrasting  with  the  bold  dark-green  of  the 
lilac  leaf;  the  tuHps  again,  their  conventional  cups 
of  rich  color  clear-cut  against  the  taller  growth; 
and  grayish  clouds  of  iris  bloom,  with  their  spears 
of  leaves  below,  these  last  broken  here  and  there 
by  touches  of  a  loose-flung,  rather  tall  forget-me- 
not,  Myosotis  dissitiflora  —  all  this  creates  an  en- 
semble truly  satisfying  from  many  points  of  view. 
Speaking  of  tulips,  why  is  not  the  May-flower- 
19 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

ing  tulip  Brimstone  more  grown?  And  what  is 
there  more  lovely  to  behold  than  masses  of  this 
pale-lemon-colored  double  tuhp,  slightly  tinged 
with  pink,  with  soft  mounds  and  sprays  of  the 
earliest  forget-me-not  gently  lifting  its  sprays  of 
turquoise-blue  against  the  delicately  tinted  but 
vigorous  heads  of  this  wonderful  tulip? 

CARMINE,    LAVENDER,    CREAM-WHITE,    AND    ORANGE 
—  LATE   MAY 

On  a  slope  toward  the  north  a  few  open  spaces 
of  poor  soil  between  small  white  pines  are  covered 
by  the  trailing  stems  of  Rosa  Wichuraiana.  Up 
through  these  thorny  stems,  along  which  tiny 
points  of  green  only  are  showing,  rise  in  mid-May 
glowing  blooms  of  the  May-flowering  tulip  Cou- 
leur  Cardinal,  with  its  deep-carmine  petals  on  the 
outside  of  which  is  the  most  glorious  plumlike 
bloom  that  can  exist  in  a  flower.  The  exquisite 
true  lavender  of  the  single  hyacinth  Holbein,  a 
"drift"  of  which  starts  in  the  midst  of  the  car- 
mine-purple tulip  and  broadens  as  it  seems  to 
move  down  the  slope,  becomes  itself  merged  in  a 
large  planting  of  Narcissus  Orange  Phoenix.  This 
narcissus  with  its  soft,  creamy  petals  (both  peri- 
anth and  trumpet  interspersed  with  a  soft  orange) 
20 


COLOR    HARMONY 

does  not,  as  the  heading  of  this  paragraph  might 
suggest,  fight  with  the  color  of  the  tuhp,  which  is 
far  above  it  on  the  slope  and  whose  purple  exterior 
is  beautifully  echoed  in  softer  tones  of  lavender 
by  the  hyacinth. 

CREAM- WHITE   AND   REDDISH   ORANGE  —  JULY 

In  early  July  a  wealth  of  bloom  Is  In  every 
garden,  and  the  decision  In  favor  of  any  special 
combination  of  color  Is  a  matter  of  some  difiiculty. 
A  very  good  planting  in  a  border,  however,  is  so 
readily  obtained,  and  proves  so  effective,  that  it 
shall  be  noticed  here.  Some  dozen  or  fifteen 
large  bushes  of  the  common  elder  stand  in  an  ir- 
regular, rather  oblong  group;  below  the  cream- 
white  cluster  of  its  charming  bloom  are  seventy- 
five  to  a  hundred  glowing  cups  of  Lilium  elegans, 
one  of  the  most  common  flowers  of  our  gardens, 
and  one  of  those  rare  lihes  which  render  their 
grower  absolutely  care-free !  Eighteen  varieties 
of  this  fine  Hly  appear  in  one  English  bulb  hst; 
many  of  these  are  rather  lower  in  height  than  the 
one  I  grow,  which  Is  L.  elegans,  var.  fulgens. 

Below  these  lilies  again,  that  the  stems  may  be 
well  hid,  clear  tones  of  orange  and  yellow  blanket 
flower  (galUardia)  appear  later  In  the  month,  car- 
21 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

rying  on  the  duration  of  color  and  In  no  way  in- 
terfering with  the  truly  glorious  effect  produced 
by  the  elder  and  lilies.  While  the  lilies  are  tall, 
the  elder  rises  so  well  above  them  that  a  beauti- 
ful proportion  of  height  is  obtained. 

An  improvement  on  this  grouping  would  be  the 
planting  of  masses  of  L.  elegans,  var.  Wallacei, 
among  the  gaillardia  below  the  taller  hlies.  The 
nearer  view  of  the  great  mass  of  July  would  then 
be  perfect. 

BRIGHT    ROSE,    GRAY-BLUE,    PALE   LAVENDER,    AND 
WHITE AUGUST 

In  the  facing  cuts  an  arrangement  of  color  for 
August  bloom  is  set  forth.  The  first  photograph 
can  give  no  adequate  idea  of  the  charming  com- 
bination of  phlox  Pantheon,  with  its  large  panicles 
of  tall  rose-pink  flowers,  against  the  cloudy  masses 
of  sea-holly  {Eryngium  amethystinum) .  While  Miss 
Jekyll  generally  makes  use  of  sea-holly  in  a 
broader  way,  that  is  as  a  partial  means  of  transi- 
tion between  different  colors  in  a  large  border,  I 
think  it  beautiful  enough  in  itself  to  use  at  nearer 
range  (and  always  with  pink  near  by)  in  a  small 
formal  garden.  Pantheon  is  a  good  phlox  against 
it,  but   Fernando  Cortez,  that  glowing  brilliant 


SEA    HOLLY   AND    PHLOX    PANTHEON 


m^ 


mm 


^^«»>#: 


PHLOX   AURORE   BOREALE,    SEA   HOLLY,    AND   CHRYSANTHEMUM 
MAXIMUM 


COLOR   HARMONY 

pink,  is  better;  it  is  the  color  of  Coquelicot,  but 
lacking  the  extra  touch  of  yellow  which  makes 
the  latter  too  scarlet  a  phlox  for  my  garden.  To 
the  left  of  the  sea-holly  is  Achillea  ptarmica,  and 
far  beyond  the  tall  pink  phlox  Aurore  Boreale.  In 
the  lower  cut  phlox  E.  DanzanVilliers  raises  its 
lavender  heads  above  another  mass  of  sea-holly, 
a  few  spikes  of  the  white  phlox  Fraulein  G.  von 
Lassberg  appear  to  the  left,  and  Chrysanthemum 
maximum  provides  a  brilliant  contrast  in  form 
and  tone  to  its  background  of  the  beautiful  eryn- 
gium. 

A  use  of  verbena  which  does  not  appear  in 
these  illustrations,  but  which  is  frequently  made 
with  these  groupings,  is  as  follows:  Below  phlox 
Pantheon,  or  the  Shasta  daisy  (or  Chrysanthemum 
maximum)  y  whichever  chances  to  be  toward  the 
front  of  the  planting,  clumps  of  that  clear  warm 
pink  verbena  Beauty  of  Oxford  complete  a  color 
scheme  in  perfect  fashion.  The  pink  of  the  ver- 
bena is  precisely  that  of  the  Pantheon  phlox,  and 
the  plants  are  allowed  to  grow  free  of  pins. 

Like  the  geranium,  the  verbena  is  a  garden 
standby  —  and,  unlike  the  geranium,  it  sows  itself. 
The  first  indulgence  in  verbenas  by  the  quarter 
or  half  hundred  is  apt  to  be  a  trifle  costly;   but 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

the  initial  cost  is  the  only  one,  for  if  seed-pods 
are  not  too  carefully  removed,  large  colonies  of 
little  seedlings  push  through  the  ground  the 
second  year,  and  always,  if  one  clear  hue  has  been 
used,  not  only  true  to  color  but  readily  trans- 
plantable. 


frnmn  Lnaunr 
N,  C,  Sfa'^  ^'  '^-ge 


PUOPOm  UBBART 
a.  C.  State  Colle$6 


II 


COMPANION   CROPS 


"A  Garden ! — ^The  word  is  in  itself  a  picture,  and  what 
pictures  it  reveals!" — E.  V.  B. 


II 

COMPANION    CROPS 

TT  will  be  as  well  to  say  at  the  outset  that  my 
-■-  tastes  are  as  far  as  possible  removed  from 
those  popularly  understood  to  be  Japanese.  I 
almost  never  regard  a  flower  alone.  I  can  ad- 
mire a  perfect  Frau  Karl  Druschki  rose,  a  fine 
spray  of  Countess  Spencer  sweet  pea,  but  never 
without  thinking  of  the  added  beauty  sure  to  be 
its  part  if  a  little  sea-lavender  were  placed  next 
the  sweet  pea,  or  if  more  of  the  delicious  roses 
were  together.  Wherefore  it  will  be  seen  that  my 
mind  is  bent  wholly  on  grouping  or  massing,  and 
growing  companion  crops  of  flowers  to  that  end. 
Mention  is  made  only  of  those  flower  crops  ac- 
tually in  bloom  at  the  same  time  in  the  garden 
illustrated.  From  this  garden,  of  thirty-two  beds 
separated  by  turf  walks,  and  with  two  central 
cross-walks  and  an  oblong  pool  for  watering  pur- 
poses, practically  all  yellow  flowers  have  been  ehm- 
i"nated,  and  all  scarlet  as  well.  The  early  colum- 
bine {Aquilcgia  chrysantha)  and  the  pale-yellow 
27 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Thermopsis  Caroliniana  are  the  only  yellows  now 
permitted,  and  these  only  to  make  blues  or  purples 
finer  by  juxtaposition.  All  yellow,  orange,  and 
scarlet  flowers  are  relegated  to  the  shrubbery  bor- 
ders; therefore,  in  speaking  of  companion  crops 
in  this  garden,  it  will  be  understood  that  some 
of  the  greatest  glories  of  July,  August,  and  Sep- 
tember are  omitted. 

As  far  as  I  know,  no  one  has  ever  suggested  the 
growing  of  various  varieties  of  gladiolus  among 
the  lower  ornamental  grasses.  This,  if  practicable 
culturally,  should  give  many  delightful  effects.  A 
yellow  gladiolus,  such  as  Eldorado,  among  the 
yellow-green  grasses ;  the  deep  violet,  Baron  Hulot, 
or  salmon-pinks,  among  the  bluish-green.  Stems 
of  gladiolus  must  ever  be  concealed.  This  would 
do  it  gracefully  and  well. 

The  two  companion  crops  of  spring  flowers 
shown  in  cut  are  the  early  forget-me-not  {Myo- 
sotis  dissitiflora) ,  which  presses  close  against  the 
dark-red  brick  of  the  low  post,  while  the  Heavenly 
Blue  grape  hyacinth  {Muscari  botryoides,  var.),  a 
rich  purplish-blue,  blooms  next  it.  Tulipa  retro- 
flexa  is  seen  in  the  foreground,  and  the  buds  of 
Scilla  campanulata,  var.  Excelsior,  when  the  pho- 
tograph was  taken  were  about  to  open.  After 
28 


MUSCARI    HEAVENLY    BLUE,    TULIPA    RETBOFLEXA,    AND   MYOSOTI8 
ALONG   BRICK   WALK 


ARABIS   AND   TULIP 
COTTAGE    MAID 


DOUBLE     GYPSOPHILA     AND     SHASTA 
DAISY 


COMPANION    CROPS 

one  day's  sun  the  various  bulbs  and  the  forget- 
me-nots  made  a  most  ravishing  effect  with  their 
clear  tones  of  blue,  lavender,  and  lemon-yellow. 

I  never  tire  of  singing  the  praises  of  Tulipa 
retroflexa;  it  is  among  my  great  favorites  in  tulips. 
And  this  leads  to  the  mention  of  that  tulip,  to  me, 
the  best  of  all  for  color,  known  under  three  names 
—  Hobbema,  Le  Reve,  and  Sara  Bernhardt.  No 
other  tulip  has  the  wonderful  and  unique  color  of 
this.  If  you  possess  a  room  with  walls  in  deli- 
cate creamy  tones,  furnished  with  a  little  old  ma- 
hogany, and  are  happy  enough  to  be  able  on  some 
fine  May  morning  to  place  there  two  or  three 
bowls  full  of  this  tulip,  you  will  understand  my 
enthusiasm.  The  color  may  be  described  as  one 
of  those  warm  yet  faded  rose-pinks  of  old  tapestry 
or  other  antique  stuff;  a  color  to  make  an  artist's 
heart  leap  up.  This  is  far  from  the  subject,  but 
these  digressions  must  occasionally  be  excused. 

In  small  note-books  —  tiny  calendars  sent  each 
year  by  a  seed-house  to  its  customers,  and  in 
which  it  is  my  habit  to  set  down  on  each  Sunday 
the  names  of  plants  in  flower  —  I  find  the  follow- 
ing were  blooming  on  a  day  in  May :  Tulipa  retro- 
■fiexa,  early  forget-me-not,  Muscari  hotryoides,  var. 
Heavenly  Blue;  Scilla  campanulata,  var.  Excel- 
29 


THE   WELL-CONSIDERED   GARDEN 

sior;  tulip  Rose  a  Merveille,  Campemelle  jonquil. 
Narcissus  Barn,  var.  Flora  Wilson;  Narcissus 
Poetaz,  var.  Louisa;  TuUpa  Greigi,  Iris  pumila, 
var.  cyanea  (a  lovely  variety,  the  blue  of  the  sky). 
Phlox  divaricata,  var.  Canadensis  (the  new  variety 
of  this,  Laphami,  is  both  larger  and  finer),  so 
beautiful  back  of  masses  of  Alyssum  saxatile,  or 
rock  cress,  both  single  and  double,  and  Iheris 
Gibraltarica. 

On  the  Sunday  one  week  earlier,  there  were  in 
full  bloom  last  spring,  tulips  Chrysolora,  Count  of 
Leicester  (the  best  double  in  tawny  yellows),  Cou- 
leur  Cardinal,  Thomas  Moore,  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
narcissus  Queen  of  Spain  and  Flora  Wilson,  Louisa, 
poet's  narcissus.  Iris  pumila  (the  common  purple), 
and  tulips  Vermilion  Brilliant,  Queen  of  Holland, 
Clusiana,  Greigi,  Brunhilde,  Cerise  Gris  de  Lin 
(another  of  the  faded  pinks  —  in  this  case,  however, 
so  extreme  that  many  gardeners  would  reject  it), 
Gris  de  Lin,  an  enchanting  if  cold  pink;  Jaune 
a-platie,  violas  and  arabis,  a  bank  of  Munstead 
primroses  (certainly  the  apotheosis  of  the  English 
primrose,  if  so  imposing  a  word  may  be  used  for 
so  shy  a  flower).  The  arabis  appears  (facing  page 
28)  with  Campernelle  jonquils  in  the  near  part, 
the  darling  tulip  Cottage  Maid  blooming  brightly 
30 


COMPANION    CROPS 

among  the  arabis  and  making  the  loveliest  imag- 
inable spring  bouquet.  The  single  arabis  I  have 
now  forsworn  in  favor  of  the  new  double  variety, 
which  is  far  more  effective  —  like  a  tiny  white 
stock  without  the  stock's  stiffness  of  habit  —  and 
quite  as  easy  to  grow  and  maintain. 

In  the  blossomy  photograph,  facing  page  48,  are 
found  foi'.r  or  five  companion  crops  of  flowers, 
though  that  was  a  peculiar  season  in  which  this 
picture  was  made,  when  syringas  bloomed  with 
Canterbury  bells !  Here  peonies  and  Canterbury 
bells  make  up  the  bulk  of  bloom,  some  young 
syringa  bushes  showing  white  back  of  them,  and 
sweetbrier  covered  with  fragrant  pink  to  the 
right.  Sweet-wilHams  and  pinks  may  be  found 
in  the  foreground  with  rich  rose  pyrethrum,  the 
sweet-williams  of  a  dark  rose-red,  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  all  the  paler  pinks  near  and  beyond 
them.  I  may  say  here  that,  like  most  amateurs, 
I  have  a  favorite  color  in  flowers  —  the  pink  of 
Drummond  phlox,  Chamois  Rose,  or,  in  deeper 
tones,  of  sweet-wiUiam  Sutton's  Pink  Beauty,  or 
the  rosy-stock-flowered  larkspur.  When  I  say  that 
such  and  such  a  flower  is  of  a  good  warm  pink,  it 
is  to  the  tones  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  that  I 
would  refer. 

31 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

On  the  date  on  which  this  picture  of  peonies 
was  made  there  were  to  be  found  in  bloom  in  my 
garden  these:  larkspur,  Thermopsis  Caroliniana 
(which  I  grow  near  groups  of  tall  pale-blue  del- 
phinium, and  which  makes  a  lovely  color  effect, 
adding  lemon-colored  spikes  to  the  blue),  sweet- 
williams,  Canterbury  bells,  peonies,  Aquilegia 
chrysantha,  Achillea  ptarmica,  hardy  campanula, 
pinks  both  annual  and  hardy,  foxgloves,  roses, 
annual  gypsophila,  common  daisies.  The  latter 
are  valuable  for  masses  of  early  white.  I  cut 
them  to  the  ground  as  soon  as  bloom  is  over, 
when  their  low  leaf-clumps  are  quickly  covered 
by  overhanging  later  flowers. 

The  midsummer  flower  crops  are,  by  all  odds, 
the  greatest  in  variety  as  they  are  in  luxuriance. 
Some  idea  of  the  appearance  of  this  garden  in 
mid-July  may  be  had  in  the  top  cut  facing,  when 
the  flowers  fully  open  are  almost  all  either  blue 
or  white,  except  toward  the  centre  of  the  garden, 
where  delicate  pink  tones  prevail,  and  the  fine 
purple  hardy  phlox  Lord  Rayleigh  blooms,  giving 
richness  to  the  picture  and  forming  a  combina- 
tion of  colors,  blue  and  rich  purple,  which  is 
especially  to  my  taste. 

The  abundance  of  Gypsophila  paniculata,  var. 
32 


^^J^^l:.^ 


GYPSOPHILA   AND   ULIE8   IN   THE   GARDEN 


COMPANION    CROPS 

eleganSy  will  be  noted  throughout  the  garden,  and 
just  here  may  be  recalled  that  delightful  and  sug- 
gestive article  by  Mr.  Wilhelm  Miller  in  "The 
Garden  Magazine"  for  September,  1909,  advo- 
cating the  use  of  flowers  with  delicate  foliage  and 
tiny  blossoms  as  aids  to  lightness  of  garden  ef- 
fects, not  to  mention  the  new  varieties  of  such 
flowers  mentioned  in  the  article,  Crambe  orientalisy 
Rodgersia,  and  various  unfamiliar  spireas. 

There  is  a  whiter  gypsophila;  there  is  a  grayer 
as  well.  The  former  is  the  variety  ^ore  pleno,  the 
latter  the  ordinary  paniculata.  They  are  both 
tremendous  acquisitions  to  the  garden,  as  their 
cloudlike  masses  of  bloom  give  a  wonderfully 
soft  look  to  any  body  of  flowers,  besides  making 
charming  settings  for  flowers  of  larger  and  more 
distinct  form,  as  in  cut  (page  28),  where  Shasta 
daisy  Alaska  is  grown  against  the  double  gypso- 
phila. Lilium  longiflorum  is  a  companion  crop  of 
gypsophila,  and  I  am  much  given  to  planting  this 
low-growing  lily  below  and  among  the  gray  soft- 
ness of  the  other.  In  bloom  when  the  garden  was 
a  blaze  of  color  in  midsummer  were  these  —  or,  pos- 
sibly, it  is  fairer  to  say,  "Among  those  present": 
Delphinium,  both  the  tall  Belladonna  and  one  of 
a  lovely  blue,  Cantab  by  name,  best  of  all  lark- 
33 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

spurs;  Delphinium  Chinensis,  var.  grandiflora^  in 
palest  blues  and  whites;  quantities  of  achillea, 
valuable  but  too  aggressive  as  to  roots  to  be  alto- 
gether welcome  in  a  small  garden;  Heuchera  san- 
guinea,  var.  Rosamund;  heliotrope  of  a  deep  pur- 
ple in  the  four  central  beds  of  the  garden  nearest 
the  pool,  in  the  centre  of  each  heliotrope  bed  a 
clump  of  the  medium  tall  and  early  perennial 
phlox  Lord  Rayleigh,  warm  purple  (this  was  an 
experiment  of  my  own  which  is  most  satisfactory 
in  its  result);  baby  rambler  roses  (Annchen 
Mueller),  and  climbing  roses  (the  garden  gate  at 
the  right  is  covered  with  Lady  Gay).  The  arch 
between  upper  and  lower  gardens  has  young 
plants  of  Lady  Gay  also  started  against  its  sides. 
To  continue  with  companion  crops:  perennial 
phlox  E.  Danzanvilliers,  masses  of  palest  lav- 
ender; Physostegia  Virginica,  var.  alba;  the  lovely 
lavender-blue  Stokesia  cyanea,  Scabiosa  Japonica, 
sea-lavender  (Statice  incana,  var.  Silver  Cloud), 
stocks  in  whites  and  deep  purples,  the  annual 
phloxes  Chamois  Rose  and  Lutea  —  the  latter 
so  nice  a  tone  of  old-fashioned  buff  that  it  is 
useful  as  a  sort  of  horticultural  hyphen  —  and 
a  charming  double  warm-pink  poppy,  nameless, 
which  raises  its  fluffy  head  above  its  blue-green 
34 


COMPANION    CROPS 

leaves  from  July  till  frost,  and  brings  warmth  and 
beauty  to  the  garden. 

Time  was  when  I  preferred  to  see  the  chamo- 
mile, or  anthemis,  spread  its  pale-yellow  masses 
below  the  blue  delphinium  spikes;  but  I  now 
prefer  whites,  or  better  still,  rich  purples  or  pale 
lavenders,  near,  a  closer  harmony  of  color. 

One  of  the  most  successful  plantings  for  bold- 
ness of  efiFect  is  the  one  beyond  the  low  hedge  of  the 
privet  ibota;  a  detail  is  seen  in  cut  facing  page  36. 
This  is  of  lemon  and  white  hollyhocks,  with  thick, 
irregular  groups  of  Lilium  candidum  upspringing 
before  them.  Sufficient  room  is  left  between  the 
hedge  and  the  lilies  to  cultivate  and  to  trim  the 
hedge,  which  is  but  two  feet  high.  And  when  these 
tall  pale  flowers  open  and  both  the  rusty  growth 
of  leaves  at  the  base  of  the  hollyhock  stalks,  and 
the  yellowing  leaves  of  the  hly  stems,  are  hidden  by 
the  trim  dark  hedge,  the  effect  from  the  garden 
itself  is  surprisingly  good.  Numberless  combina- 
tions of  all  these  flowers,  which  bloom  at  the 
same  time,  suggest  themselves,  an  infinite  variety. 
Three  plants  which  bloom  in  mid-July  are  the 
necessary  and  beautiful  pink  verbena.  Beauty  of 
Oxford,  and  the  snapdragons  in  the  fine  new  tones 
called  pink,  carmine-pink,  and  coral-red;  also  that 
35 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

exquisite  flower,  Clarkia  elegans,  in  the  variety 
known  as  Sutton's  double  salmon,  one  of  the  most 
graceful  and  remarkably  pretty  annuals  which 
have  ever  come  beneath  my  eye.  Love-in-the-mist 
blooms  now,  and  the  best  variety.  Miss  Jekyll,  is 
exceedingly  pretty  and  valuable. 

A  list  of  companion  crops  for  August  most  nat- 
urally begins  with  perennial  phloxes;  in  my  case, 
Pantheon,  used  very  freely;  Aurore  Boreale,  Fer- 
nando Cortez  (wonderful  brilliant  coppery  pink), 
a  very  little  Coquelicot,  used  in  conjunction  with 
sea-holly;  white  phloxes  von  Lassburg  and  Fiancee, 
zinnia  in  light  flesh  tones,  the  good  lavender-pink 
physostegia  {Virginica  rosea),  sea-holly,  stocks, 
and  dianthus  of  the  variety  Salmon  Queen. 

There  is  hardly  space  left  in  which  to  mention 
the  flower  crops  which  enrich  September  with 
color.  But  no  list  of  the  flowers  of  that  month 
should  begin  with  the  name  of  anything  less  lovely 
than  the  tall,  exquisite,  pale-blue  Salvia  patens. 
Called  a  tender  perennial,  I  have  found  it  entirely 
hardy;  and  the  sudden  blooming  of  a  pale-blue 
flower  spike  in  early  autumn  is  as  welcome  as  it 
is  surprising.  Second  to  this  I  place  the  hardy 
aster,  or  Michaelmas  daisy,  now  to  be  had  in  many 
named  varieties  and  forming,  with  the  salvia  just 
36 


COMPANION    CROPS 

named,  a  rare  combination  of  light  colors.  My 
hardy  asters  thus  far  have  been  practically  two, 
Pulcherrima  and  Coombe  Fishacre,  two  weeks 
later;  this  gives  me  four  weeks  of  lavender  bloom 
in  September  and  October.  The  accommodating 
gladiolus,  which,  as  every  one  knows,  will  bloom 
whenever  one  plans  to  have  it,  is  a  treasure  now. 
America,  which  has  so  much  lavender  in  its  pink, 
is  exceeding  fair  in  combination  with  either  of 
these  hardy  asters;  and  when  spikes  of  the  salvia 
are  added  to  a  mass  of  these  two  flowers  of  which 
I  have  just  spoken,  you  have  one  of  the  loveliest 
imaginable  companion  crops  of  flowers. 

A  prospective  combination  not  yet  tried  but 
which  I  am  counting  upon  this  season  is  blue  lyme 
grass  {Elymus  arenarius)  with  Chamois  Rose 
Phlox  Drummondii  below  it,  and  back  of  it  gladio- 
lus William  Falconer.  The  lyme  grass  has  much 
blue  in  its  leaves,  and  so  has  the  gladiolus;  there 
should  be  excellent  harmonies  of  both  fohage  and 
flower. 

Very  lately,  long  since  the  above  was  written, 
a  color  combination  most  subtle  and  beautiful, 
a  September  picture,  has  come  to  view:  Salvia 
farinacca,  a  soft  blue-lavender,  with  clustering 
spikes  of  palest  pink  stock  near  it,  very  close  to 
S7 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

it,  were  the  two  subjects  so  perfectly  suited  to 
each  other.  Let  me  commend  this  arrangement 
as  something  rather  out  of  the  common,  for  I  can 
hardly  think  this  salvia  is  often  met  with  in  our 
gardens.  And  the  use  of  a  lovely  but  unfamiliar 
flower  will  bring  with  it  a  certain  additional 
pleasure. 


88 


Ill 

SUCCESSION    CROPS 


'Give  me  a  tree,  a  well,  a  hive, 
And  I  can  save  my  soul  alive." 

— "Thanksgiving,"  Katharine  Tynan. 


Ill 

SUCCESSION    CROPS 

EASY  enough  it  is  to  plan  successive  flower 
crops  for  different  parts  of  a  place:  but  not 
so  easy,  considering  the  limited  amount  of  nour- 
ishment in  the  soil  and  the  habit  of  growth  of 
various  flowering  plants,  to  cover  one  spot  for 
weeks  with  flowers.  An  immense  variety  of  treat- 
ment is  possible  and  much  disagreement  must  be 
beforehand  conceded.  Calculations  for  varying 
latitudes  must  be  made  with  more  than  usual 
care;  and  the  question  of  individual  taste  asserts 
itself  with  great  insistence. 

A  very  rough  and  hard  bank  of  nearly  solid 
clay  with  a  south  exposure  has  for  some  years 
been  planted  to  narcissus  Emperor,  Cynosure,  and 
one  or  two  other  rather  later  varieties.  Striking 
boldly  along  among  these,  while  in  full  bloom, 
grows  an  irregular  line,  thickening  and  thinning 
in  places,  of  tuHp  Vermilion  Brilliant,  absolutely 
described  by  its  name.  As  the  flowers  of  these 
scarlet  and  yellow  bulbs  commence  to  fade,  the 
41 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

ground  below  them  begins  to  green  with  Httle 
leaves  of  calendulas  Orange  King  and  Sulphur 
Queen,  as  well  as  of  the  fine  double  white  poppy 
White  Swan.  These  practically  cover  the  dying 
bulb  leaves  in  a  few  weeks  and  produce  a  succes- 
sion of  charming  bloom  beginning  rather  early  in 
the  summer.  A  few  zinnias  do  well  among  them, 
the  medium  tall  varieties  grown  only  from  seed 
labelled  "Flesh-color."  For  my  purposes  this  zin- 
nia color  is  always  the  best.  It  generally  produces 
flowers  varying  from  flesh-pink  to  pale  or  faded 
yellow,  colors  which  in  all  their  range  look  so  well 
with  yellow  or  warm  pink  flowers  that  many 
unique  and  lovely  combinations  are  obtained  by 
their  free  use.  Beware  of  the  zinnia  seed  marked 
*'Rose,"  and  of  all  mixtures  of  this  seed.  The 
seed  rarely  comes  true  to  color,  and  its  bad  colors 
are  so  hideously  wrong  with  most  other  flowers 
that  they  are  a  very  real  menace  to  the  beginner 
in  what  we  might  call  picture-gardening. 

Iceland  poppies,  thickly  planted  among  the  nar- 
cissi and  tulips,  would  bring  a  crop  of  charming 
silken  blooms  well  held  above  the  foliage  already 
on  that  bank,  and  coming  between  the  earlier  and 
later  flower  crops. 

The  little  walk  of  dark  brick  shown  in  the  first 
42 


SUCCESSION    CROPS 

illustration  is  bordered  in  very  early  spring  by 
blue  grape  hyacinths  (Muscari  hotryoidcs),  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  fine  forget-me-not  Myosotis 
dissitifiora  in  mounds  and  sprays.  Among  these 
are  quantities  of  the  cream-white  daffodil  (Narcis- 
sus cemuus) .  Alternating  with  the  plants  of  early 
forget-me-not  are  many  more  of  Sutton's  Perfec- 
tion and  Sutton's  Royal  Blue,  which  come  into 
bloom  as  the  earliest  fade;  these  grow  very  tall 
and  form  a  foreground  of  perfect  loveliness  for 
the  tall  Tulipa  retroflexa,  which  rises  irregularly 
back  of  the  small  sky-blue  flowers  below,  complet- 
ing a  combination  of  cream  color  and  light  blue 
charmingly  delicate  and  effective.  Following  the 
two  blue  and  cream-white  crops  of  flowers  border- 
ing this  walk,  dark-pink  phloxes  bloom  in  early 
August,  three  successive  periods  of  gayety  being 
thus  assured  to  the  little  pathway. 

A  continuation  of  this  walk,  running  toward 
a  wooden  gateway  in  a  trellised  screen,  may  boast 
also  of  three  successive  flower-appearances  of  dif- 
ferent kinds.  Back  of  the  brick  edging  bordering 
the  gravel  are  planted  alternating  groups  of  myo- 
sotis Sutton's  Royal  Blue,  hardy  dianthus  Her 
Majesty,  and  early  and  late  hardy  asters,  the 
two  mentioned  in  another  chapter,  Coombe  Fish- 
43 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

acre  and  Pulcherrima.  First  to  enliven  the  bor- 
ders with  color  is  the  myosotis,  a  peculiarly  pretty 
effect  occurring  in  the  leading  up,  at  either  end  of 
the  walk,  of  the  irregular  edge-groups  of  pale  blue 
to  low  masses  of  the  old-fashioned  Harison's  Yellow 
and  Persian  Yellow  rose.  Late  forget-me-not  is 
never  lovelier  than  when  used  in  connection  with 
this  rose.  The  combination  reminds  me  of  the 
delicate  colors  of  the  flower-boxes  below  each  win- 
dow of  Paquin's  great  establishment  in  the  Rue 
de  la  Paix,  as  it  may  be  seen  every  May.  Fol- 
lowing the  myosotis  and  yellow  roses  come  masses 
of  the  scented  white  pinks,  while  by  this  time  the 
hardy  asters  have  developed  into  handsome  dark- 
green  groups  of  leaves  and  give  all  through  the 
summer  a  rich  green  contrasting  well  with  the 
gray  mounds  of  dianthus  foliage,  and  finally,  in 
September,  rising  suddenly  into  sprays  of  tall,  fine 
lavender  bloom. 

No  succession  crop  of  spring  and  early  summer 
that  I  have  happened  upon  seems  to  work  bet- 
ter than  that  of  tulip  Yellow  Rose  planted  in 
small  spaces  between  common  and  named  varie- 
ties of  Oriental  Poppy.  The  tulip,  in  itself  of 
gorgeous  beauty,  very  rich  yellow  and  extremely 
double,  absolutely  lacks  backbone,  and  the  first 
44 


SUCCESSION    CROPS 

hca\^  shower  brings  its  widely  opened  flowers  to 
earth  to  be  bespattered  with  mud.  The  leaves 
of  the  poppy,  upright  and  hairy,  form  a  capital 
support  for  the  misbehaving  stem  of  Yellow 
Rose,  and  the  poppies,  having  thus  lent  the  tulips 
aid  in  time  of  need,  go  a  step  farther  and  cover 
their  drying  foliage  with  a  handsome  acanthus- 
like screen  of  green  surmounted  by  the  noble 
scarlet  and  salmon  blooms  of  early  June.  This 
is  a  very  simple,  practical,  and  safe  experiment  in 
succession  crops,  and  is  heartily  commended.  Fol- 
lowing these  poppies  comes  the  bloom  of  a  few 
plants  of  campanula  Die  Fee,  and  I  am  trying  this 
year  the  experiment  of  Campanula  pyramidalis  in 
blues  and  whites  thickly  planted  among  the  pop- 
pies, for  late  summer  bloom  when  the  poppy 
leaves  shall  have  vanished.  This  is  a  large  de- 
mand to  make  upon  the  earth  in  a  small  space, 
but,  with  encouragement  by  means  of  several  top- 
dressings  of  well-rotted  manure,  I  hope  to  accom- 
plish this  crop  succession  satisfactorily.  Among 
the  yellow  columbines  (Aquilegia  chrysantha)  I 
generally  tuck  quantities  of  white  or  purple  stocks, 
those  known  as  Sutton's  Perfection.  The  aqui- 
legia is  cut  close  to  the  ground  as  soon  as  its  seed- 
pods  take  the  place  of  flowers;  and  the  stocks  are 
45 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

then  beginning  their  long  period  of  bloom.  Can- 
terbury bells  are  usually  the  centres  of  colonies  of 
annual  asters  (my  great  favorites  are  the  single 
Aster  Sinensis,  in  chosen  colors  —  not  to  be  had  in 
every  seed-list,  by  the  way),  and  of  groups  of 
gladiolus  bulbs  so  arranged  as  to  hide  the  vacancy 
left  when  the  Canterbury  bells  must  be  lifted  from 
the  ground  after  blooming. 

In  four  places  in  the  garden  where  rather  low- 
growing  things  are  desired,  are  alternate  groups 
of  a  handsome,  dark,  velvety-red  sweet-william  — 
the  seed  of  which  was  given  me  by  Miss  Jekyll, 
who  described  this  as  the  color  of  the  sweet-wil- 
liam of  the  old  Enghsh  cottage  garden  —  and  well- 
grown  plants  of  Stokesia  cyanea.  As  soon  as  the 
fine  heads  of  sweet-william  begin  to  crisp  and  dry, 
the  beautiful  lavender-blue  flowers  of  the  Stokesia 
take  up  the  wondrous  tale,  and  a  veil  of  dehcate 
blue  is  drawn  over  the  spots  which  a  few  days 
since  ran  red  with  a  riot  of  dark  loveliness. 

Among  larkspurs  I  plant  Salvia  patens,  which 
to  look  tidy  when  blooming  must  be  carefully 
staked  while  the  stems  are  pliable  and  tender. 
Second  crops  of  delphinium  bloom  seem  to  me  a 
mistake  —  I  believe  the  vitality  of  the  plant  is 
somewhat  impaired  and  the  color  of  the  flowers  is 
46 


SUCCESSION    CROPS 

seldom  as  clear  and  fine  as  in  the  first  crop.  Green 
leaves  in  plenty  should  be  left,  of  course:  the 
lower  part  of  Salvia  patens  is  not  attractive  and 
its  pale-blue  flowers  have  added  beauty  rising  from 
the  fresh  delphinium  foliage. 

The  plan  of  planting  the  everlasting  pea  {La- 
thyrus  latifolius,  var.  The  Pearl)  among  delphin- 
iums, to  follow  their  bloom  by  clouds  of  white 
flowers,  is  recommended  by  an  English  authority. 
To  continue  the  blue  of  tall  delphinium,  the  very 
best  succession  crop  is  that  of  Delphinium  Chi- 
nense  or  grandiflorum,  the  lower  branching  one  with 
the  cut  leaf;  a  fine  hardy  perennial  in  exquisite 
shades  of  pale  and  deep  blue,  whose  flowers  are 
at  their  very  best  immediately  after  the  spikes 
of  their  blue  sisters  have  gone  into  retirement. 

The  fine  new  Dropmore  variety  of  Anchusa 
Italica  is  exceedingly  good  placed  near  the  vigor- 
ous green  spikes  of  the  leaves  of  the  white  false 
dragonhead  {Physostegia  Virginicay  var.  alba) :  when 
the  latter  is  low,  the  great  anchusa  leaves  nearly 
cover  it;  and  after  the  crop  of  brilHant  blue 
flowers  is  exhausted,  and  the  robust  plants  are 
cut  back,  the  physostegia  raises  its  tall  white 
spikes  of  bloom  a  few  weeks  later,  brightening  an 
otherwise  dull  spot. 

47 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Platycodons,  both  blue  and  white,  are  capital 
to  dwell  among  and  succeed  Canterbury  bells; 
the  platycodons  to  be  followed  again  in  their  turn 
by  the  later-blooming  Campanula  pyramidalis. 

Will  some  kind  garden-lover  make  me  his  debtor 
by  suggesting  a  good  neighbor  and  successor  to 
the  hardy  phlox?  This  has  been  a  problem  in  a 
locality  where  frost  is  due  in  early  September,  and 
some  of  the  tenderer  things,  such  as  cosmos,  are 
really  nothing  but  a  risk.  If  one  could  raze  one's 
phloxes  to  the  ground  once  they  had  finished  their 
best  bloom,  the  case  might  be  different.  But  the 
French  growers  now  advise  (according  to  interest- 
ing cultural  instructions  for  phlox-growing  issued 
by  one  specialist)  the  retention  of  all  flower  stalks 
during  winter !  This  makes  necessary  an  im- 
mense amount  of  work  in  the  way  of  cutting,  to- 
ward early  September,  in  order  that  the  phloxes 
may  keep  some  decent  appearance  as  shrublike 
plants  of  green. 

To  follow  the  bloom  of  Iris  Germanica  (of  which 
I  find  two  varieties  planted  together,  Mrs.  Hor- 
ace Darwin  and  Gloire  de  Hillegom,  to  give  a 
charming  succession  crop  of  flowers  with  a  change 
of  hue  as  well),  I  have  already  recommended  the 
planting  of  gladiolus.  Lilium  candidum  growing 
48 


PEONIES   AND   CANTERBURY   BELLS 


DISCREET    USE    OF   RAMBLER    ROSE.    LADY    GAY 


SUCCESSION    CROPS 

back  of  iris  leaves  is  also  effective,  and,  by  care- 
fully considered  planting,  gladiolus  forms  a  be- 
tween-crop  of  no  little  value. 

Of  succession  crops  to  follow  each  other  in 
places  apart,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  speak. 
This  is  an  easy  matter  to  arrange;  the  fading  of 
color  before  one  shrubbery  group  acting  as  a  signal 
to  another  place  to  brighten.  Munstead  primroses 
(cut,  page  46)  are  scarcely  out  of  bloom  when  tulip 
Cottage  Maid  and  arabis  are  in  beauty,  as  in  cut  on 
page  42,  in  an  unused  spot  under  grapes,  and  these 
are  quickly  followed  by  rambler  roses  (cut,  page  48), 
peonies,  and  Canterbury  bells  in  the  garden  proper 
(cut,  page  48).  Bordering  on  the  turf  edges  of 
a  walk  in  a  kitchen  garden  three  succession  crops 
of  flowers  have  been  obtained  by  the  use  of  these 
three  plantings.  Roses  stand  a  foot  back  from  the 
grass.  Between  them  and  the  turf  long,  irregular 
masses  of  Tulipa  Gesnerianay  var.  rosea,  bloom 
rich  rose-red  in  May.  The  roses  follow  in  June; 
and  Beauty  of  Oxford  verbena  covers  the  dying 
tulip  leaves  with  clusters  of  wonderful  pink  bloom 
which  lasts  well  into  the  autumn. 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  a  white  garden 
would  be  a  simple  matter  to  arrange,  and  that, 
under  certain  very  green  and  fresh  conditions  and 
49 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

with  plenty  of  rich  shadow  to  give  its  tones  va- 
riety, it  should  not  be  monotonous.  The  procession 
of  white  flowers  is  so  remarkable,  beginning,  say, 
with  the  snowdrop,  bloodroot,  sweet  white  violet, 
and  the  arabis  in  its  single  and  double  forms,  followed 
quickly  by  Iberis  Gibraltarica  and  Phlox  subulata, 
white  violas  —  all  these  for  the  low  early  flowers 
—  and  followed  by  larger,  taller,  and  more  mas- 
sive blooms,  from  peonies  on  to  Canterbury  bells, 
thence  to  lihes,  white  hollyhocks,  gypsophilas.  Pearl 
achillea,  and  white  phloxes.  Dozens  of  flower 
names  occur  at  the  mere  thought.  It  seems  as 
though  every  flower  must  have  its  white  repre- 
sentative. Whether  an  all-white  garden  would 
be  truly  agreeable  or  no,  I  cannot  say,  but  I  do 
hold  that  sufficient  white  is  not  used  in  our  gar- 
dens —  that  a  certain  brilliancy  in  sunHght  is  lost 
by  the  absence  of  masses  of  white  flowers,  succes- 
sion crops  of  which  it  is  so  easy  to  obtain  and 
maintain.  With  the  free  use  of  white  flowers, 
there  is  sure  to  be  a  fresh  proclamation  of  beauty, 
too,  at  twilight  and  under  the  moon  —  arguments 
which  must  appeal  to  the  amateur  gardener  of 
poetic  taste. 


50 


IV 


JOYS  AND  SORROWS  OF  A 
TRIAL  GARDEN 


'Here  is  a  daffodil, 

Six-winged  as  seraphs  are; 
They  took  her  from  a  Spanish  hill. 

Wild  as  a  wind-blown  star. 
When  she  was  born 

The  angels  came 
And  showed  her  how  her  petals  should  be  worn. 

Now  she  is  tame  — 
She  hath  a  Latin  name." 

—  "A  London  Flower  Show," 

Evelyn  Underhill. 


IV 

JOYS  AND  SORROWS  OF  A 
TRIAL  GARDEN 

THE  three  indispensable  adjuncts  of  a  good 
flower  garden,  when  considering  its  upkeep, 
are,  in  the  order  of  their  importance:  a  tool-house 
well  stocked,  a  good  supply  of  compost,  and  space 
for  a  trial  garden.  In  planting  for  color  effect 
the  trial  garden  is  a  necessity.  The  space  for  it 
may  be  small:  no  matter;  plant  in  it  one  of  a 
kind.  The  gardener  happy  in  the  possession  of 
the  visualizing  sense  may  take  the  one  plant  and 
in  his  or  her  imagination  readily  see  its  effect  as 
disposed  in  rows,  groups,  or  large  masses. 

My  own  trial  garden  space  is  very  small;  and 
my  idea  has  been  from  the  first  to  secure  plants 
for  it  in  multiples  of  four,  if  possible  according  to 
size.  The  formal  flower  garden  happens  to  be 
arranged  alike  in  all  four  quarters  of  its  plan,  and 
this  habit  of  balanced  planting  makes  the  trying 
out  of  eight  or  sixteen  of  a  kind  a  really  econom- 
53 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

ical  thing  in  the  end.  If  the  plants  please,  and 
the  colors  form  an  agreeable  combination  with 
others  already  in  the  garden,  their  removal  in  the 
autumn  from  trial-garden  rows  to  certain  spots  in 
the  garden  proper  is  simple. 

A  portion  of  the  trial  garden  is  kept  for  seed, 
and  the  balance  for  small  collections  of  bulbs  or 
plants;  except  so  much  space  as  is  reserved  for 
the  fours,  eights,  and  sixteens  mentioned  above. 
Of  Crambe  cordifolia,  for  example,  I  should  never 
plant  more  than  four,  owing  to  its  great  size  and 
spreading  habit  of  growth,  while  of  a  dwarf  hardy 
phlox  eight  should  be  the  least.  It  occurs  to  me 
often  that  some  of  us  underestimate  the  enormous 
value  of  this  wonderful  plant.  Sure  to  bloom  as 
is  the  sun  to  rise  and  set,  varying  in  its  height  as 
few  other  flowers  do,  with  a  range  of  wonderful 
color  unsurpassed,  perhaps  unrivalled,  by  any 
hardy  flower,  the  gardener's  consolation  in  a  hot, 
dry  August,  when  it  maketh  the  wilderness  of  the 
midsummer  formal  garden  to  blossom  as  the  rose 
—  there  is  a  delightful  combination  of  certainty 
and  beauty  about  it  which  cannot  be  overpraised. 
Forbes,  the  great  Scotch  grower,  in  his  last  list 
gives  six  pages  of  fine  type  to  this  flower.  It  is 
like  a  clock  in  its  day  of  bloom,  another  great 
54 


A    TRIAL    GARDEN 

point  in  its  favor.  I  have,  for  instance,  three 
varieties  of  white  which  follow  each  other  as  the 
celebrated  sheep  over  the  wall,  each  brightening 
as  the  other  goes  to  seed.  No  lovelier  thing  could 
be  conceived  than  a  garden  of  phloxes,  a  perfect 
garden  of  hardy  phloxes;  in  fact,  an  interesting 
experiment  if  one  had  time  and  space  for  it  would 
be  a  garden  made  up  entirely  of  varieties  of  phlox; 
beginning  with  the  lovely  colors  now  obtainable 
in  the  P.  suhulata  group,  next  the  fine  lavenders 
of  P.  divaricata,  then  an  interim  of  good  green 
foliage  till  Miss  Lingard  of  the  P.  decussata  sec- 
tion made  its  appearance,  to  be  followed  by  the 
full  orchestra  of  the  general  group  of  violets  and 
purples  (basses);  mauves,  lavenders,  and  pinks 
(violas,  'cellos,  and  brasses);  and  the  range  of 
whites  (flutes  and  violins).  At  the  close  of  this 
concert  of  phlox-color  the  audience  must  leave 
the  garden.  The  pity  is  that  August  is  its  last 
hour.  The  strains  of  glorious  music,  however, 
follow  one  over  the  winter  snows. 

But  this  ramble  has  carried  me  far  afield.  To 
return  to  the  trial  garden  —  heucheras  in  the  fol- 
lowing varieties  were  admitted  to  this  place  last 
fall:  brizoides,  gracillima,  Richardsoni,  splendens, 
Pluie  de  Feu,  and  Lucifer.  They  flourished  su- 
55 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

perbly,  although  their  little  roots  had  been  sub- 
jected to  the  test  of  a  two  weeks'  journey  by  sea 
and  land  from  an  English  nursery  to  Michigan. 
The  flower  spikes  of  these  hybrid  heucheras  were 
thirty-two  inches  high  by  actual  measurement ! 
Another  year,  when  well  established,  they  should 
send  up  even  longer  spikes.  Their  colors  vary 
from  very  rich  coral-red  to  pale  salmon,  but  in- 
variably on  the  right  side  of  pink  —  the  yellow 
rather  than  the  blue.  This  encourages  me  to 
think  of  them  in  connection  with  sweet-william 
Sutton's  Pink  Beauty  (Newport  pink).  Next 
year  I  hope  to  see  the  heucheras'  tall  delicate 
sprays  emerging  from  the  flat  lower  masses  of  the 
others'  bloom,  since  they  flower  simultaneously. 
Long  after  the  sweet-william  has  gone  to  its 
grave  upon  the  dust  heap,  however,  the  heu- 
cheras continue  to  wave  their  lacelike  pennants  of 
bright  color.  I  hardly  know  of  any  plant  which 
has  so  long  a  period  of  bloom.  The  only  heu- 
cheras familiar  to  me  before  were  the  common 
species  H.  sanguinea  and  the  much-vaunted  va- 
riety Rosamunde.  While  these  are  very  beauti- 
ful, they  have  not  with  me  the  height  nor  the 
generally  robust  appearance  necessary  for  full  ef- 
fect in  mass  planting.  The  leaves  of  H.  Richard- 
56 


HEUCHERA    SANGUINEA    HYBRIDS 


RAMBLER   ROSE   LADY   GAY   OVER   GATE 


A    TRIAL    GARDEN 

soni  (which  are,  as  Miss  Jekyll  points  out,  at 
their  best  in  spring,  with  the  bronze-red  color) 
make  a  capital  ground  cover  below  certain  daffo- 
dils and  tulips,  and  contrast  well  with  foliage  of 
other  tones  which  may  neighbor  them  in  the  late 
summer.  These  heucheras  are  not  common  enough 
in  our  gardens  or  in  simple  borders.  Their  bril- 
liant appearance  joined  to  the  long  flowering 
period  makes  them  garden  plants  of  rare  quality. 
Let  me  suggest  placing  one  of  the  brighter  varie- 
ties before  a  good  group  of  white  Canterbury 
bells  with  the  same  pink  sweet-william  already 
mentioned  near  by.  By  "near  by"  I  mean  really 
close  by,  no  interfering  spaces  of  earth  to  injure 
the  effect.  I  am  unalterably  opposed  to  garden- 
ing in  the  thin,  sparse  fashion  which  some  gardeners 
affect,  and  never  let  an  inch  of  soil  appear.  Let 
the  earth  be  never  so  good  nor  so  carefully  weeded 
and  cultivated,  it  is  only  now  and  again  that  an 
edge  of  turf  should  be  seen,  "in  my  foolish  opin- 
ion," as  the  Reverend  Joseph  Jacob's  old  gardener 
is  apt  to  remark  to  his  master,  the  delightful 
writer  on  flowers. 

Sixteen  peonies  with  grand  French  names  graced 
my    trial    garden    this    year,    standing    demurely 
equidistant  from  each  other  in  a  stiff  row.     Their 
57 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

bloom  was  feeble,  small,  and  hardly  worth  noting 
for  this  first  season;  next  year  they  should  be 
subjects  for  observation.  It  was  a  disappoint- 
ment that  Baroness  Schroeder  refused  to  show  a 
single  flower  this  spring.  For  lo,  these  many 
years  have  I  looked  at  prices  and  longed  to  pos- 
sess this  glorious  peony;  and,  now  that  she  is 
within  my  gates,  to  find  her  refusing  to  speak  to 
me  must  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  sorrows  of  this 
trial  garden. 

But  the  daffodils !  Early  in  the  spring  those 
wonderful  varieties  suggested  by  Reverend  Joseph 
Jacob  in  the  columns  of  "The  Garden"  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  various  classes  —  those  far  ex- 
ceeded and  outshone  all  anticipation.  Mr.  Jacob's 
hst  will  be  interesting  to  lovers  of  the  narcissus 
in  this  country.     I  subjoin  it: 

Yellow  Trumpets:  Emperor,  Glory  of  Leiden, 
Maximus,  Golden  Bell,  P.  R.  Barr,  Queen  of 
Spain  (Johnstoni). 

White  Trumpets:  Madame  de  Graaff. 

Bicolor  Trumpets:  Apricot,  Empress,  J.  B.  M. 
Camm,  Victoria,  Mrs.  W.  T.  Ware. 

Cups  with  Yellow  Perianths:  Albatross,  Lucifer, 
Citron,  Duchess  of  Westminster,  White  Lady, 
Ariadne,  Lulworth,  Dorothy  Wemyss,  M.  M.  de 
58 


A    TRIAL    GARDEN 

Graaff,  Minnie  Hume,  Artemis,  Waterwitch,  Crown 
Prince,  and  Flora  Wilson. 

Pheasant  Eyes:  Ornatus,  Homer,  Horace,  Cas- 
sandra, Recurvus,  Eyebright,  and  Comus. 

Doubles:  Argent,  Orange  Phoenix,  Golden  Phoenix. 

Bunch-flowered:  Elvira  (Poetaz),  Campernelle 
jonquils  {rugulosus  variety). 

Of  each  of  these  I  planted  two  a  year  ago. 
Fifty  varieties  set  some  four  inches  apart  gave 
three  good  rows  of  daffodils,  and  of  these  but 
four  or  five  were  already  familiar.  The  first  to 
really  attract  and  enthrall  me  was  Eyebright.  It 
draws  as  a  star  at  night.  Its  rarely  brilliant  color 
and  distinct  form  make  it  one  of  the  greatest 
joys  afforded  by  the  trial  garden.  Next  came 
the  wonderful  Argent,  a  fine  star-shaped  flower, 
half-double,  pale  yellow  and  cream-white.  Then, 
in  order,  Barri  conspicuus  was  a  very  fine  daffodil 
— yellow  perianth,  with  cup  of  brilhant  orange- 
scarlet.  Then  Mrs.  Walter  T.  Ware,  one  of  the 
best  of  the  lot  in  every  way.  Gloria  Mundi  is  a 
very  beautiful  flower,  yellow  perianth  with  a 
bright  cup  of  orange-scarlet.  Sir  Watkin,  a  huge 
daffodil,  and  effective,  is  entirely  yellow.  Minnie 
Hume,  a  pale  flower  full  of  charm.  Artemis,  a 
beauty,  small  but  of  compact  form.  Eyebright 
59 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

and  Firebrand  were  the  brightest  and  most  glow- 
ing of  the  fifty.  Elvira,  of  the  Poetaz  group,  is  a 
telling  flower  with  its  rich  cream-white  bunches 
of  bloom  and  pale  cup  of  straw-color.  This  daf- 
fodil, grown  in  masses  in  woodlands,  should  pro- 
duce a  very  marvellous  spring  picture.  I  have 
fancied,  too,  that  its  fine  flowers  above  the  low 
Iris  pumila,  var.  cyanea,  might  be  a  sight  worth 
seeing. 

These  fragmentary  notes  are  all  that  can  be 
given  here.  It  is  hard  to  choose  from  so  many 
perfect  flowers  a  few  which  seem  more  remark- 
able than  the  rest.  My  practice  was,  as  these 
daffodils  came  toward  flowering,  to  cut  one  from 
each  bulb  while  hardly  out  of  the  bud,  label  it 
with  a  bit  of  paper  high  up  on  the  stem,  and 
keep  it  before  me  in  water  for  observation  and 
comparison.  They  were  unmitigated  *'joys"  — 
as  daffodils  always  are.  What  a  marvel  to  have 
a  few  garden  things  such  as  tulips,  daffodils,  and 
phlox,  subject  to  no  insect  pests,  living  through 
the  severe  winters  of  our  climate,  and  in  such  va- 
riety as  to  amaze  those  who  like  myself  are  only 
beginning  to  know  what  has  been  done  by  hy- 
bridizers ! 

Among  the  joys  of  the  summer  in  the  trial 
60 


HYBRID   COLUMBINES   BELOW    BRLVR   ROSE   LADY    PENZANCE 


NARCISSUS   BARRI    FLORA    WILSON 


A    TRIAL    GARDEN 

spaces  was  Clematis  recta.  So  satisfactory  was  it 
here  that  I  count  on  using  it  freely  in  the  main 
garden.  It  grew  to  a  height  of  perhaps  two  feet, 
with  loose  clusters  of  white  bloom  much  like  those 
of  the  climbing  C.  paniculata,  held  well  above  a 
pretty  and  shrublike  plant  whose  delicately  cut 
foliage  is  of  a  remarkably  fine  tone  of  dark  bluish- 
green.  The  green  holds  its  own  well  in  hot,  dry 
weather,  and  gives  it  value  as  a  low  background 
after  its  bloom  has  gone. 

Perennial  phloxes  receive  some  attention  in 
this  trial  garden.  Of  these,  one  new  to  me,  An- 
tonin  Mercie,  shall  have  special  mention,  first  be- 
cause of  its  good  color,  a  light  lilac-lavender;  next 
because  of  its  rather  early  bloom  —  August  5  or 
thereabouts  in  43°  N.  latitude;  and  last  because 
of  its  rather  low  and  very  branching  habit.  The 
spread  of  its  good  green  leaves  and  full  flower 
trusses  makes  it  an  unusually  good  phlox  for  the 
formal  garden,  and  its  resemblance  in  color  to 
E.  Danzanvilliers,  the  taller  and  more  pearly 
lavender  phlox,  fits  it  admirably  for  use  before 
the  latter.  If  Lord  Rayleigh  were  just  a  Httle 
later,  what  a  delicious  combination  of  lavenders 
and  violet  could  be  arranged  !  Phlox  R.  P.  Struth- 
ers,  a  brilHant  dark  pink,  redder  than  Pantheon, 
61 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

not  so  red  as  Coquelicot,  more  perhaps  on  the 
order  of  the  fine  Fernando  Cortez  than  any  phlox 
with  which  I  can  compare  it,  is  another  immense 
acquisition.  This  is  also  early,  with  a  much  larger 
truss  of  bloom  than  Fernando  Cortez.  Standing 
below  groups  of  sea-holly  {Eryngium  amethystinum) 
great  masses  of  this  would  prove  most  telling. 

Of  many  other  experiments  and  tryings-out 
should  I  like  to  write  here:  of  Mr.  Walsh's  fine 
rambler  roses,  notably  Excelsa,  which  is  in  a  fair 
way  to  equal  the  popularity  of  Lady  Gay;  of 
some  new  larkspurs,  a  small  collection  of  colum- 
bines, and  another  of  hardy  asters.  I  will  only 
add  a  word  concerning  the  one  sorrow  of  a  trial 
garden  which  has  no  cure.  It  is  the  loss  of  what 
the  good  old  Englishman  without  whom  I  should 
be  helpless  is  pleased  to  call  "lay bells."  When 
a  "lay bell"  is  gone,  then  is  the  garden  world  up- 
side down  !  All  my  bearings  are  lost ;  and  I  hate 
the  anonymous  inhabitant,  the  creature  without 
identity,  who  has  the  effrontery  to  stand  up  and 
bloom  as  though  he  were  perfectly  at  home  where 
those  who  see  him  know  him  not ! 


BALANCE    IN    THE    FLOWER 
GARDEN 


A  sun-dial  is  calm  time,  old  time,  beautiful  spacious  time 
in  a  garden;  it  is  slow  waltz  time,  —  time  that  flows  like  a 
shining  twist  of  honey,  sweet  and  slow.  A  sun-dial  prods 
nobody,  a  sun-dial  can  trance  and  forget;  it  lets  the  green 
hours  glide.  And  at  the  close  of  day,  when  Evening  leans 
upon  the  garden  gate,  your  sun-dial  ceases  to  suppose  it 
knows  the  hour. 

—  "The  Villa  for  Coelebs,"  J.  H.  Yoxall. 


BALANCE  IN  THE  FLOWER 
GARDEN 

WHEN  the  chance  to  arrange  the  planting  of 
a  formal  garden  of  my  own  fell  into  my 
hands,  about  eight  years  ago,  I  felt  strongly  the 
need  of  advice  in  what  I  was  about  to  do.  Ad- 
vice, however,  was  not  forthcoming,  and  at  the 
outset  I  fell,  of  course,  into  the  pit  of  absurdity. 
Without  any  reason  for  so  doing,  I  decided  to 
arrange  the  planting  in  this  garden  (a  balanced  de- 
sign in  four  equal  parts  with  eight  beds  in  each 
section)  as  though  the  whole  were  a  scrap  of  per- 
ennial border  a  few  feet  wide  and  a  few  feet  long. 
The  ridiculous  idea  occurred  to  me  to  have  the 
garden  a  picture  to  be  looked  at  from  the  house 
alone.  The  matter  of  garden  design  was  to  fade 
out  of  sight  except  with  regard  to  the  few  beds 
immediately  surrounding  the  small  central  pool. 
These  were  planted  more  or  less  formally,  with 
heliotrope  in  the  four  parallelograms  nearest  the 
65 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

centre,  and  iris  and  lilies  in  four  other  spaces  near 
the  rest.  I  endeavored  to  produce  irregular  cross- 
wise banks  of  color  from  the  far  end  of  the  garden 
to  the  part  nearest  the  house  —  scarlet,  orange,  and 
yellow,  with  a  fair  sprinkling  of  hollyhocks  in  yel- 
low and  white  on  the  more  distant  edge;  before 
these,  crowds  of  white  flowers,  gray-leaved  plants 
and  blue-flowering  things;  and,  nearest  of  all  to 
the  beholder,  brighter  and  paler  pinks. 

The  result  was  nothing  but  an  ugly  muddle  — 
indescribably  so  when  one  happened  to  be  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden  itself.  For  two  or  three  years 
I  bore  with  this  unhappy  condition  of  things;  in- 
deed, nothing  but  the  fact  that  the  flowers  con- 
ducted themselves  in  remarkably  luxuriant  and 
brilliant  fashion,  due  to  the  freshness  and  richness 
of  the  soil,  could  have  saved  me  from  seeing  sooner 
the  silly  mistake  I  had  made;  when,  chancing  to 
look  down  upon  the  garden  from  an  upper  win- 
dow, the  real  state  of  things  suddenly  revealed 
itself,  and  from  that  day  I  set  about  to  plan  and 
plant  in  totally  different  fashion. 

With  Mr.  Robinson,  I  feel  against  the  wretched 

carpet-bedding  system,  while  I  quite  agree,  on  the 

clher  hand,  with  the  spokesman  for  the  formalists, 

Reginald  Blomfield,  who  declared  that  there  is  no 

66 


BALANCE    IN    THE    GARDEN 

such  thing  as  the  "wild  garden,"  that  the  name 
is  a  contradiction  of  terms.  The  one  thing  I  do 
maintain  is  that  advice,  the  very  best  advice,  is 
the  prime  necessity:  for  those  who  can  afford  it, 
the  fine  landscape  architect;  for  those  who  can- 
not, the  criticism  or  counsel  of  some  friend  or  ac- 
quaintance whose  experience  has  been  wider  than 
their  own.  The  time  is  sure  to  come  when  experts 
in  the  art  of  proper  flower-grouping  alone  will  be 
in  demand. 

There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  our  grandmothers 
were  right  when  they  preferred  to  see  a  vase  on 
each  side  of  the  clock !  With  a  given  length  of 
shelf  and  a  central  object  on  that  shelf,  one's  in- 
stinct for  equahzing  calls  for  a  second  candlestick 
or  bowl  to  balance  the  first.  My  meaning  may 
be  illustrated  by  a  recent  picture  in  "The  Cen- 
tury Magazine"  of  Mrs.  Tyson's  beautiful  garden 
at  Berwick,  Maine.  Charming  as  is  this  lovely 
garden-vista,  with  its  delightful  posts  in  the  fore- 
ground, repeating  the  lines  of  slim  poplar  in  the 
middle  distance,  it  would  have  given  me  much 
more  pleasure  could  those  heavy-headed  white  or 
pale-colored  phloxes  on  the  right  have  had  a  per- 
fect repetition  of  their  effective  masses  exactly 
opposite  —  directly  across  the  grass  walk.  These 
67 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

phloxes  cry  aloud  for  balance,  placed  as  they 
seem  to  be  in  a  distinctly  formal  setting. 

So  it  is  in  the  formal  flower  garden.  I  have 
come  to  see  quite  plainly,  through  several  years 
of  lost  time,  that  balanced  planting  throughout 
is  the  only  planting  for  a  garden  that  has  any 
design  worth  the  name.  It  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive of  that  formal  garden  in  which  the  use  of 
formal  or  clipped  trees  would  be  inappropriate; 
and  these  we  must  not  fail  to  mention,  not  only 
because  of  the  fine  foil  in  color  and  rich  back- 
ground of  dark  tone  which  they  bring  into  the  gar- 
den, but  because  of  their  shadow  masses  as  well  and 
their  value  as  accents.  And  that  word  "accents" 
brings  me  to  the  consideration  of  the  first  impor- 
tant placing  of  flowers  in  a  garden  which  hke  my 
own  is,  unlike  all  Gaul,  divided  into  four  parts. 

Two  cross-walks  intersect  my  garden,  causing 
four  entrances.  To  flank  each  of  these  entrances, 
it  can  be  at  once  seen,  balanced  planting  must 
prevail.  In  the  eight  beds  whose  corners  occur 
at  these  entrances,  this  planting  is  used:  large 
masses  of  Thermopsis  Caroliniana  give  an  early 
and  brightly  conspicuous  bloom.  Around  these 
the  tall  salmon-pink  phlox,  Aurore  Boreale,  much 
later;  below  this  —  filling  out  the  angle  of  the 
68 


BALANCE    IN    THE    GARDEN 

corner  to  the  very  point  —  the  blue  lyme  grass 
{Elymus  arenarius),  gladiohis  WilHam  Falconer, 
and  lowest,  of  all,  Phlox  Drmnmondii,  var.  Chamois 
Rose.  None  of  these  colors  fight  with  each  other 
at  any  time,  and  the  large  group  of  tall-growing 
things  is  well  fronted  by  the  intermediate  heights 
of  the  lyme  grass  and  the  gladiolus  when  in  growth 
or  in  bloom.  The  four  far  corners  of  my  garden 
I  also  consider  more  effective  when  planted  with 
tall-growing  flowers;  in  these  the  Dropmore,  An- 
chusa  Italictty  first  shines  bluely  forth;  this  soon 
gives  place  to  the  white  physostegia,  with  phlox 
Fernando  Cortez  blooming  below  the  slim  white 
spikes  just  mentioned;  and  last,  to  fight  up  the 
corners,  comes  the  mauve  Physostegia  Virginica, 
var.  rosea,  whose  bloom  here  is  far  more  profuse 
and  effective  than  that  of  its  white  sisters.  This 
grouping  gives  almost  continuous  bloom  and  very 
telling  color  from  mid- June  to  mid-September; 
the  periods  of  green,  when  they  occur,  are  short, 
and  the  vigorous-looking  plants  are  not  at  all 
objectionable  before  they  blossom.  The  effect  of 
balanced  planting  in  these  corners  I  consider  good. 
The  eye  is  carried  expectantly  from  one  angle  to 
another  and  expectation  is  fulfilled. 

In  the  centre  of  this  garden  are  four  rectangular 
69 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

beds,  corresponding  in  proportion  to  the  size  of 
the  rectangular  pool.  These,  as  forming  part  of 
the  centre  of  the  garden,  are  always  planted  ex- 
actly alike.  Purple  of  a  rich  bluish  cast  is  one 
of  the  colors  which  bind  instead  of  separate,  and 
purple  it  is  which  here  becomes  an  excellent  focal 
color  for  the  garden.  In  the  middle  of  each  bed 
is  a  sturdy  group  of  the  hardy  phlox  Lord  Ray- 
leigh,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  heliotrope  of  the 
darkest  purple  obtainable.  This  year,  however, 
I  expect  to  replace  the  heliotrope  with  even  bet- 
ter effect  by  a  tall  blue  ageratum,  which  I  saw  in 
one  or  two  Connecticut  gardens,  as  the  paler  color 
is  more  telling  and  quite  as  neutral  for  such  a 
position.  Speaking  of  this  ageratum,  I  may  per- 
haps digress  for  a  moment  to  mention  a  charming 
/  effect  I  saw  on  an  out-of-door  dining-table  last 
summer,  obtained  by  the  use  of  this  flower.  The 
color  of  the  table  was  a  pale  cool  green  and  most 
of  its  top  was  exposed;  in  the  centre  stood  a 
bowl  of  French  or  Italian  pottery,  bearing  a  care- 
less gay  decoration,  and  at  the  four  corners  smaller 
bowls.  These  were  filled,  to  quote  the  words  of 
the  knowing  lady  whose  happy  arrangement  this 
was,  *'with  zinnias  which  had  yellows  and  copper- 
reds,  with  the  variety  which  resulted  from  an  order 
70 


BALANCE    IN    THE    GARDEN 

of  salmon-pinks  and  whites.  We  really  had  almost 
everything  but  salmon-pink." 

The  zinnias,  I  who  saw  them  can  aflSrm,  made 
a  most  brilliant  mass  of  color  not  altogether  har- 
monious; but  all  was  set  right  by  the  introduc- 
tion, sparingly  managed,  of  the  lovely  ageratum, 
Dwarf  Imperial  Blue.  The  eye  of  her  who  ar- 
ranged these  flowers  saw  that  a  balm  was  needed 
in  Gilead;  the  ageratum  certainly  brought  the 
zinnia  colors  into  harmony  as  nothing  else  could 
have  done,  and  a  charmingly  gay  and  original 
decoration  was  the  result.  What  a  suggestion 
here,  too,  for  the  planting  of  a  little  garden  of 
annuals ! 

We  are  apt  to  think  of  balance  in  the  formal 
garden  as  obtained  for  the  most  part  by  the  use 
of  accents  in  the  shape  of  formal  trees,  or  by 
some  architectural  adjunct.  I  believe  that  color 
masses  and  plant  forms  should  correspond  as  ab- 
solutely as  the  more  severe  features  of  such  a 
garden.  For  example,  in  practically  the  same 
spot  in  all  four  quarters  of  my  garden  there  are, 
for  perhaps  four  to  six  weeks,  similar  masses 
of  tall  white  hardy  phloxes,  the  blooming  period 
beginning  with  von  Lassburg  and  closing  wiLli 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  the  white  repeated  in  the  dwiirf 
71 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

phlox  Tapis  Blanc  in  four  places  nearer  the  centre 
of  the  garden. 

For  accents  in  flowers,  the  mind  flies  naturally 
to  the  use,  first,  of  the  taller  and  more  formal 
types  of  flowers.  Delphiniums  with  their  fine  up- 
rightness and  glorious  blues;  hollyhocks  where 
space  is  abundant  and  rust  doth  not  corrupt;  the 
magnificent  mulleins,  notably  Verhascum  Olympi- 
cum,  might  surely  emphasize  points  in  design;  and 
I  read  but  now  of  a  new  pink  one  of  fine  color, 
which,  though  mentioned  as  a  novelty  in  Miss 
Ellen  Willmott's  famous  garden  at  Warley,  Eng- 
land, will  be  sure  to  cross  the  water  soon  if  in- 
vited by  our  enterprising  nurserymen.  Lilies  of 
the  cup-upholding  kinds,  standard  roses,  standard 
wistarias,  standard  heliotropes  are  all  to  be  had. 
The  use  of  the  dwarf  or  pyramidal  fruit-tree  in 
the  formal  garden  is  very  beautiful  to  me,  recall- 
ing some  of  the  earliest  of  the  fine  gardens  of 
England,  and  (where  the  little  tree  is  kept  well 
trimmed)  offering  a  rarely  interesting  medium  for 
obtaining  balanced  effects. 

But  the  tall  plants  are  not  the  only  available 

means    for    producing    balanced    effects.     Lower 

masses   of   foliage   or   fiowers   have   their   place. 

They   must   be   masses,    however,    unmistakable 

72 


HARDY   ASTERS   IN    SEPTEMBER 


BALANCE    IN    THE    GARDEN 

masses.  Thus,  in  the  illustration  facing  page  68, 
each  of  the  large  flower  masses  of  baby's  breath 
{Gypsophila  elegans)  —  consisting  of  the  bloom  of 
but  a  single  well-developed  plant  —  is  repeated 
in  every  instance  in  four  corresponding  positions 
in  this  garden.  There  was  too  much  gypsophila 
in  bloom  at  once  when  this  picture  was  made, 
but  because  some  was  double  the  effect  was  not  as 
monotonous  as  the  photograph  would  make  out. 
In  a  fine  garden  in  Saginaw,  Michigan,  designed 
and  planted  by  Mr.  Charles  A.  Piatt,  balance  is 
preserved  and  emphasized  in  striking  fashion  by 
the  use  of  the  plantain  hly  {Funhia  Sieboldiiy  or 
grandiflora),  with  its  shining  yellow-green  leaves. 
Masses  of  this  formal  plant  are  here  used  as  an 
effective  foreground  for  a  single  fine  specimen 
bush,  not  very  tall,  of  Japan  snowball  {Viburnum 
plicatum).  The  poker  flower  {Tritoma  Pfitzeri)  is 
also  used  in  this  garden  to  carry  the  eye  from 
point  to  corresponding  point;  and  speaking  of 
tritoma,  which  Mr.  Piatt  in  this  garden  associates 
with  iris,  let  me  mention  again  that  delightful 
ageratum,  as  I  lately  saw  it,  used  below  tritoma. 
The  tritoma  must  have  been  one  of  the  newer 
varieties,  of  an  unusual  tone  of  intense  salmony- 
orange,  and  while  the  ageratum  would  seem  too 
73 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

insignificant  in  height  to  neighbor  the  tall  spike 
above  it,  the  u^e  of  the  lavender-blue  in  large 
masses  added  enormously  to  the  effect  of  the 
torches. 

In  the  second  illustration,  the  rather  thin-look- 
ing elms  seem  to  flank  the  garden  entrance  rather 
fortunately.  A  certain  pleasurable  sensation  is 
felt  in  the  balance  afforded  by  the  doubly  bor- 
dered walk  with  its  blue  and  lavender  Michael- 
mas daisies  or  hardy  asters.  It  is  surely  the  repe- 
tition of  the  twos  which  has  something  to  do  with 
this:  two  borders,  two  posts,  two  trees,  the  eye 
carried  twice  upward  by  higher  and  yet  higher 
objects. 


7'i 


VI 


COLOR    HARMONIES    IN    THE 
SPRING    GARDEN 


'O  Spring,  I  know  thee !    Seek  for  sweet  surprise 

In  the  young  children's  eyes. 
But  I  have  learnt  the  years,  and  know  the  yet 

Leaf-folded  violet. 

In  these  young  days  you  meditate  your  part; 
I  have  it  all  by  heart." 

—  "In  Early  Spring,"  Alice  Meyneli.. 


VI 

COLOR    HARMONIES    IN    THE 
SPRING    GARDEN 

TN  these  words.  Spring  Flowers,  there  is  very 
-■-  music.  There  is  a  delicious  harraony  in  all  of 
Nature's  colors,  and  particularly  in  the  colors  of 
all  native  spring  flowers,  as  they  appear  with 
each  other  in  their  own  environment.  If  any  one 
doubts  what  I  say,  let  him  look  at  such  pictures 
as  are  found  in  Flem well's  ''Flowers  of  the  Alpine 
Valleys";  let  him  take  up  Mrs.  Allingham's 
"Happy  England";  or  let  him  in  May  wander 
in  the  nearest  woodlot  and  see  a  lovely  tapestry 
of  pale  color  woven  of  the  pink  of  spring  beauties, 
the  delicate  lavenders  of  hepatica,  and  the  faint 
yellow  of  the  dogtooth  violet  —  thousands  of  tiny 
blooms  crowding  each  other  for  space,  but  all  very 
good. 

Perhaps,  next  to  the  snowdrop,  crocus  is  the 

earliest  of  the  cultivated  bulbs  to  bloom  in  our 

wintry  region.     The  matter  of  color  mixtures  here 

comes  to  the  fore.     I  admit  this  to  be  a  question 

77 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

of  personal  taste;  but  it  is  one  on  which  discus- 
sion should  be  agreeable  and  fruitful.  It  happens 
that  I  object  to  a  mixture  of  colors  in  crocus,  or, 
for  that  matter,  in  anything.  Not  long  ago  a 
well-known  landscape  gardener,  a  woman,  re- 
marked that  a  border  of  mixed  Darwin  tulips 
was  one  of  the  most  successful  of  her  many  plant- 
ings. In  such  a  hand,  I  am  sure  this  was  so.  If 
such  planting  were  done  exactly  as  it  should  be, 
with  sufficient  boldness,  a  sure  knowledge  of  what 
was  wanted,  and  great  variety  of  colors  and  tones 
of  those  colors,  the  result  would  surely  show  a 
tapestry  again  thrown  along  the  earth  —  a  tapes- 
try grander  in  conception  and  more  glorious  in 
kind  than  the  one  woven  of  the  tiny  blossoms 
mentioned  above.  But  with  the  average  gar- 
dener a  mixture,  so  called,  is  a  thing  of  danger. 
What  more  hopeless  than  a  timid  one  !  "Be  bold, 
be  bold,  but  not  too  bold"  —  Spenserian  advice 
holdspiere. 

To  return  to  crocus.  Awhile  ago,  in  the  bor- 
ders of  this  small  Michigan  place  of  ours,  there 
was  in  one  place  a  most  lovely  carpet  of  colonies 
of  pale-lavender  crocus  Maximilian,  with  grape 
hyacinth  {Muscari  azureum)  running  in  and  out 
in  peninsulas,  bays,  and  islands.  Tall  white  crocus 
78 


COLOR    HARMONIES 

Reine  Blanche,  in  large  numbers,  was  near  by,  itg 
translucent  petals  shining  in  the  sun  beyond  its 
more  dehcately  colored  neighbors. 

I  beheve  I  have  before  expatiated  in  these 
pages  on  the  great  beauty  of  Crocus  purpurea, 
var.  grandiflora,  carpeting  large  spaces  of  bare 
ground  beneath  shrubbery,  principally  used  in 
connection  with  great  sheets  of  Scilla  Sihirica, 
which  blooms  so  very  little  later  than  the  crocus 
as  to  make  the  two  practically  simultaneous. 
These,  in  order  to  get  a  telling  effect,  should  be 
planted  by  the  thousands,  and  this,  I  beg  to  as- 
sure the  reader,  is  a  less  serious  financial  observa- 
tion than  it  sounds  !  \ 

Hepatica  that  year  bloomed  with  7m  reticu- 
lata. As  an  experiment  I  arranged  the  following 
spring  some  groups  of  this  smart  little  iris,  with 
hepatica  plants  threading  their  way  among  the 
grasslike  leaves  of  the  iris,  and  near  by  a  few 
hundreds  of  Muscari  azureum.  The  cool,  delicate 
pinks  of  the  hepatica  were  in  most  lovely  accord 
with  the  rich  violet  of  the  iris,  yet  affording  a 
striking  contrast  in  form  and  a  full  octave  apart 
in  depth  and  height  of  tone.  Is  there  a  valid 
objection  to  thus  using  imported  and  native 
plants  side  by  side.'^  I  know  Ruskin  would  have 
79 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

hated  it,  but  the  great  mid- Victorian  man  prob- 
ably never  had  a  chance  to  see  the  thing  well 
done.  You  recall  what  he  wrote  of  English  flower 
gardens : 

"A  flower  garden  is  an  ugly  thing,  even  when 
best  managed;  it  is  an  assembly  of  unfortunate 
beings,  pampered  and  bloated  above  their  nat- 
ural size;  stewed  and  heated  into  diseased  growth; 
corrupted  by  evil  communication  into  speckled 
and  inharmonious  colors;  torn  from  the  soil  which 
they  loved,  and  of  which  they  were  the  spirit  and 
the  glory,  to  glare  away  their  term  of  tormented 
life  among  the  mixed  and  incongruous  essences 
of  each  other,  in  earth  that  they  know  not,  and 
in  air  that  is  poison  to  them." 

I  should  like  to  bring  Mr.  Ruskin  back  to  life 
again,  show  him  some  color  achievements  in  flower 
gardening  in  England  and  America  to-day,  and 
hear  him  say,  "A  new  order  reigneth." 

But  back  to  the  crocus !  Where  drifts  of  Crocus 
purpureuSi  var.  grandiflorus,  were  blooming  under 
leafless  Japanese  quince,  blooming  quite  by  them- 
selves, a  fine  show  of  color  of  the  same  order  was 
had,  really  only  a  transition  from  one  key  to 
another,  by  flinging  along  the  ground,  planting 
where  they  fell,  heavy  bulbs  of  hyacinth  Lord 
80 


PUSCHKINIA    BELOW    SHRUBS 


TULIP    KAUFMANNLVNA   IN   BORDER 


COLOR    HARMONIES 

Derby.  The  full  trusses  of  this  superb  flower 
made  the  most  lovely  companions  for  the  just- 
about-to-fade  crocus.  How  can  I  adequately  de- 
scribe the  color  of  Lord  Derby  !  Never,  no  never, 
in  the  words  of  one  of  the  Dutch  growers,  who 
calmly  says,  "Porcelain  blue,  back  heavenly  blue." 
May  I  venture  to  ask  the  reader  what  impression 
these  words  convey  to  him?  To  me  they  are  as 
sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals.  They  mean 
nothing.  From  my  own  observation  of  the  hya- 
cinth, I  should  say  that  its  blue,  in  the  early  stages 
of  development,  has  a  certain  iridescent  quality 
which  makes  it  uncommonly  interesting,  almost 
dazzling  when  seen  beyond  the  green  of  the  fresh 
grass  of  May;  and  in  full  bloom  it  shines  out 
with  a  half-deep  tone  of  purpUsh  blue.  Crocus 
purpureus,  var.  grandiflorus,  blooms  with  this  hya- 
cinth; the  two  tones  of  purple  are  distinct  from 
each  other  and  extremely  interesting  together. 

Is,  or  is  not,  Puschkinia  little  known.''  How 
distinct  it  is  from  most  of  the  smaller  spring 
things,  and  how  lovely  in  itself  with  its  tiny  bluish- 
white  bells,  pencilled  with  another  deeper  tone  of 
blue!  And  so  rewarding,  coming  up  vahantly 
year  after  year,  without  encouragement  of  the 
compost  or  replanting !  A  little  colony  of  it  is 
81 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

here  shown  (page  80)  very  badly  because  rather 
too  tightly  planted.  Puschkinia  could  be  asso- 
ciated with  Iris  reticulata  most  beautifully;  or  its 
slender  bluish  bells  would  be  delightful  growing 
near  Tulip  Kaufmanniana.  The  bloom  of  all 
these  bulbous  things  may  be  quite  confidently 
expected  at  the  same  time. 

Another  planting  shows  practically  nothing 
but  crowds  of  the  fine  white  crocus  Reine  Blanche, 
grown  as  naturally  as  possible  below  Pyrus  Ja- 
ponica.  Here  they  dwell  calmly  and  seem  to 
sleep  year  after  year,  except  for  the  time  when 
they  show  their  shining  faces  to  the  sun  of  April. 
The  most  dreaded  enemy  of  the  crocus,  to  my  mind, 
is  a  wet  snow.  The  petals,  once  soaked  and 
weighted,  never  recover  their  beautiful  texture, 
and  when,  one  fatal  April,  as  my  note-book  shows, 
our  hectic  climate  brought  in  one  hour  upon  these 
charming  but  tender  fiowers  rain,  hail,  and  snow, 
the  wreckage  may  be  left  to  the  imagination  of 
the  tender-hearted. 

Nothing,  to  my  thinking,  can  exceed  for  beauty 
the  picture  made  by  the  majestic  Tulipa  Vitellina, 
with  its  beautifully  held  cups  of  palest  lemon 
color,  when  supported  by  the  lavender  trusses  of 
Phlox  divaricata  —  and  the  stems  of  that,  in  turn. 


COLOR    HARMONIES 

almost  hidden  by  the  fine  Phlox  subulata,  var. 
lilacina.  Long  reaches  of  these  three  flowers  hap- 
pily planted,  or  a  tiny  corner  against  shrubbery 
—  it  matters  not  one  whit  which  —  "and  then 
my  heart  with  pleasure  fills  !"  What  a  wonderful 
thing  to  see  below  the  glowing  buds  and  blossoms 
of  the  Japanese  quince  clusters  of  tulip  La  Mer- 
veille  or  —  but  not  and  —  tulip  Couleur  Cardinal. 
La  Merveille,  with  its  tremendously  telling  orange- 
red  hues,  puts  dash  into  the  picture;  Couleur  Car- 
dinal, sombreness,  richness.  No  one  could  think 
for  one  moment  of  allowing  these  tulips  to  appear 
near  each  other.  Crocus  and  early-flowering 
things  below  and  among  the  shrubs,  to  bloom 
when  the  quince  is  leafless;  tulips  toward  the 
grass,  to  show  when  tiny  points  of  green  and  the 
red  quince  blossoms  make  a  fiery  mist  above  them. 
The  lucky  householder  or  gardener  who  has 
sometime  placed  a  group  of  the  glorious  shrub, 
Mahonia,  on  his  ground,  may  like  a  planting 
which  has  seemed  good  to  me  against  the  shining 
dark-green  of  its  low  branches.  Narcissus  poetaz, 
var.  Elvira,  to  bloom  with  the  lavender  hyacinth 
Lord  Derby  or  Holbein;  with  the  gay  tulip  Ver- 
milion Brilliant  near  by,  and  some  groups  or  col- 
onies of  tulip  Couleur  Cardinal  associated  with 
83 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

these.  The  fine  Darwin  tuHp  Fanny,  used  with 
masses  of  Phlox  divaricata  and  Phlox  subulata, 
var.  lilacina,  below  it,  is  a  marvel  of  color.  Mr. 
Hunt's  description  of  Fanny  I  give:  "Clear,  rosy 
pink,  with  white  centre  marked  blue.  Not  a 
large  flower  but  one  of  exquisite  color  and  form." 
I  have  never  yet  made  a  May  pilgrimage  to  Mont- 
clair,  but  I  know  I  should  be  a  wiser  gardener  if 
I  might,  for  Mr.  Hunt's  blooming  tulips  must  be 
worth  many  a  league's  journey. 

Nothing  I  have  ever  had  upon  our  small  place 
has  given  me  more  spring  pleasure  than  the  plant- 
ing which  I  next  describe.  A  shrub,  two  tulips, 
and  a  primula.  The  shrub  was  Spircea  Thun- 
bergii,  with  its  delicate  white  sprays  of  flowers. 
Below  and  among  these  spireas  are  the  great  tulip 
La  Merveille,  orange-scarlet,  and  the  old  double 
Count  of  Leicester,  in  tawny-orange  shades  — 
and  before  the  tulips  lay  low  masses  of  the  Mun- 
stead  primrose.  On  this  primrose,  which  fares  so 
well  with  me,  I  have  enlarged  so  often  and  so  vol- 
ubly that  I  fear  the  reader  is  weary  of  my  praises. 
But  to  me  it  is  an  essential  of  the  spring.  With 
this  primrose,  with  the  hardy  forget-me-nots,  and 
arabis,  the  lemon-colored  alyssum,  the  lavender 
creeping  phloxes,  and  with  a  charming  low-grow- 
84 


COLOR    HARMONIES 

ing  thing  whose  name  is  Lamium  maculatum  (the 
gray-green  leaves  have  a  rather  vague  whitish 
marking  upon  them,  and  the  flowers  are  of  a 
soft  mauve  —  grow  tuHp  Wouverman  back  of 
these,  I  beg !)  —  the  most  dehghtful  effects  may 
be  had. 

As  for  tulips,  again,  the  loveliest  of  combina- 
tions under  lilacs,  or  immediately  before  them, 
would  surely  ensue  if  groups  of  tulips  Fanny,  Carl 
Becker,  Giant,  and  Konigin  Emma  were  planted 
in  such  spots.  And  speaking  of  tulips  —  the  ones 
just  mentioned  I  got  of  the  Dutch,  the  originators 
of  the  Darwin  and  Rembrandt  tulips  and  who 
thereby  have  made  all  bulb-growers  their  eternal 
debtors. 

Mr.  Krelage  gave  last  autumn  to  one  of  his 
English  friends  a  list  of  the  Darwin  tulips  he 
considers  the  best.  These  are  the  ones:  Clara 
Butt,  salmon-pink;  Crepuscule,  pinky  lilac;  Faust, 
deep  violet;  Giant,  deep  purplish-crimson;  La 
Candeur,  ivory-white;  La  Tristesse,  slaty  blue; 
Madame  Krelage,  rosy  pink;  Margaret,  soft  pink, 
almost  blush;  Mr.  Farncombe  Sanders,  rosy 
crimson;  Prince  of  the  Netherlands,  cerise-car- 
mine; Raphael,  purplish  violet;  and  Haarlem,  a 
giant  salmony  orange-red.  Five  of  these  I  have 
85 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

grown.  The  man  to  whom  this  list  was  given,  a 
distinguished  judge  of  flowers,  comments  on  the 
evident  partiaUty  of  Mr.  Krelage  for  the  rich 
deep-purples,  as  shown  by  these  choices  of  his 
own. 

Last  spring  Miss  Jekyll  wrote  of  her  pleasure 
in  some  beautiful  varieties  of  tulips,  Darwins  and 
Cottage  both,  sent  her  as  cut  blooms  by  a  well- 
known  grower.  And  I  was  so  charmed  with  her 
description  of  these,  especially  with  what  she  said 
of  the  purple  and  bronze  tones  of  some  of  them, 
that  I  cleared  out  a  lot  of  shrubbery  to  make  room, 
and  planted  last  fall  the  following  groups:  Ew- 
bank  and  Morales  together,  Faust,  Grand  Mo- 
narque,  Purple  Perfection,  and  D.  T.  Fish;  Bronze 
King,  Bronze  Queen,  Golden  Bronze,  Dom  Pedro, 
Louis  XIV;  Salmon  Prince,  Orange  King,  Pan- 
orama, Orange  Globe,  and  La  Merveille. 

I  am  not  a  collector;  but  how  readily,  save  for 
one  reason,  could  I  become  one,  in  ten  different 
directions  in  the  world  of  flowers !  Tulips  should 
be  one  of  my  choices;  the  narcissus  another;  no  one 
could  pass  by  the  iris.  The  collecting  of  tulips  is, 
I  fancy,  simple  beside,  say,  that  of  daffodils. 
The  varieties  of  the  daffodil  are  so  many,  the 
classes  not  as  yet  quite  clearly  defined;  while  the 


TIUP  VIKll)lFI>ORA  PRAECOX 


COLOR    HARMONIES 

tulip  is  simplicity  itself,  except  when  it  comes  to 
tulip  species  —  there  the  botanist  comes  to  the 
front  and  no  unlearned  ones  need  apply.  Tulips 
are  unfailing,  certain  to  appear.  No  coaxing  is 
necessary,  nor  do  they  require  special  positions. 
They  may,  for  instance,  grow  among  peonies; 
they  are  delightful  among  grapes.  While  the 
narcissus  may  not  flourish  among  peonies,  because 
of  the  amount  of  manure  needed  by  the  latter, 
tulips  come  gloriously  forth.  The  question  was 
put  to  me  some  time  since  by  Doctor  Miller  as  to 
the  probability  of  injury  to  or  failure  of  narcissus 
when  planted  among  peonies,  on  account  of  the 
amount  of  manure  generally  used  among  such 
roots  —  the  statement  made  originally,  I  believe, 
by  some  English  writer.  May  I  give  here  the  opin- 
ion of  an  English  authority  on  daffodils  in  his  own 
words  ? 

"As  to  daffodils  among  peonies  —  well,  if  you 
don't  get  manure  (new)  among  their  roots,  and 
only  top-dress  with  farmyard  or  stable  manure, 
using  bonemeal  underground,  I  think  many  daf- 
fodils would  do  very  well;  but  you  should  try 
them  from  more  places  than  one  when  you  buy. 
Like  humans  and  others,  a  rich  diet  coming  on 
top  of  a  long-drawn-out  poor  one  upsets  matters." 
87 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Crocus-collecting,  judging  from  what  Mr.  E. 
Augustus  Bowles  writes  of  it,  must  have  charms 
indeed.  I  confess  to  the  germ  of  the  fever  in  the 
shape  of  several  of  Mr.  Bowles's  delightfully  read- 
able articles  safely  put  away  in  a  letter-file.  Each 
time  I  take  these  out  to  reread  them,  I  grow  a 
little  weaker;  and  by  next  July  when  fresh  lists 
of  crocus  species  lay  their  fatal  hand  upon  me,  I 
expect  to  be  a  crocus-bed-ridden  invalid  indeed ! 


VII 


THE  CROCUS  AND  OTHER 
EARLY  BULBS 


'The  groundflame  of  the  crocus  breaks  the  mould. 
Fair  Spring  slides  hither  o'er  the  Southern  sea." 

—  Tennyson. 


VII 

THE  CROCUS  AND  OTHER 
EARLY  BULBS 

TET  me  begin  by  presenting  these  "rumina- 
-*-'  tions,"  as  he  calls  them,  from  the  pen  of  the 
Reverend  Joseph  Jacob,  of  England,  whose  name 
is  known  wherever  two  or  three  daffodils  or  as 
many  tuhps  are  gathered  together.  "Was  there 
ever  a  time,"  writes  he,  "when  bulbs  were  not  pop- 
ular? Probably  not.  At  all  events,  there  is  not 
much  doubt  about  it  at  the  present  time.  Every 
horticultural  firm  which  considers  itself  at  all 
*up'  in  the  world  considers  one  of  its  annual 
necessities  the  issuing  of  a  bulb-list.  Contrari- 
wise, the  reception  and  perusal  of  these  lists  are 
among  the  perennial  pleasures  of  every  one  who 
has  a  garden.  Bulbs  are  wonderfully  accommo- 
dating things.  I  have  a  tortoise  which  we  call 
Timmie,  and  for  the  last  three  months  he  has 
been  fast  asleep  under  some  nice  dry  leaves  in  the 
cellar.  Just  now,  with  a  little  careful  packing, 
he  could  very  easily  undertake  a  long  journey. 
91 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

"Bulbous  plants  are  the  'Timmies'  of  the  vege- 
table kingdom.  When  they  have  retired  into 
their  shells,  they  can  be  sent  about  so  readily  and 
so  safely  that  if  they  lived  to  about  ten  times 
the  age  of  Methuselah,  I  should  not  be  surprised 
to  find  that,  if  it  is  really  true  what  botanists 
tell  about  dispersion  and  propagation  being  the 
two  things  that  plants  worry  themselves  most 
about,  then  all  well-brought-up  plantlets  would 
be  taught,  just  as  we  teach  the  'three  R's'  to-day, 
how  to  take  on  a  bulbous  state  as  an  essential 
part  of  their  life  cycle." 

With  Mr.  Jacob's  whimsical  wish  I  heartily 
agree,  more  particularly  as  I  recall  the  few  choice 
aubrietias  by  post  from  Ireland,  the  glories  in 
delphinium  from  England  in  the  same  manner,  all 
of  which,  when  opened,  were  found  to  be  exhausted 
by  their  journey. 

Now,  before  rushing  toward  —  before  leaping 
to  our  main  flower,  the  crocus,  may  I  pay  a  word 
of  tribute  to  the  tribe  of  muscari,  the  grape  hya- 
cinth.^ While  these  small  bits  of  perfection  in 
flowers,  in  blue  flowers  —  yes,  a  true  blue  in  some 
forms  —  are  wonderful  in  color,  they  must,  in  my 
experience,  be  packed  closely  together  in  planting 
for  any  really  good  effect.  While  several  flowers 
92 


EARLY    BULBS 

come  from  each  crocus  bulb  set  in  earth,  from 
Muscari  azureum,  the  small  and  early  sky-blue, 
I  usually  have  but  two,  and  the  tiny  things 
seem  not  to  spread,  to  multiply,  as  the  crocus 
does. 

Of  the  other  grape  hyacinths,  a  dehghtful  color 
picture  is  seen  each  May  on  either  side  of  my 
little  brick  walk.  The  late  muscari  Heavenly 
Blue  clusters  below  the  pale-yellow  lily-like 
heads  of  Tulipa  retrqilexa,  and  below  the  grape 
hyacinth  (whose  strong  dark-blue  has  a  metallic 
quality)  quantities  of  fine  myosotis  plants  are 
blooming  at  the  same  moment. 

The  earliest  muscari  are  true  crocus  companions 
—  azureum  in  dense  companies,  with  crocus  Mont 
Blanc  —  or  with  such  a  lavender  as  Madame 
Mina  a  most  unusual  color  combination  may  be 
made. 

Since  the  spring  of  1912  I  have  felt  that  I 
must  take  up  my  pen  for  the  crocus,  to  introduce 
it  in  a  few  of  its  newer  and  less-known  varieties 
to  those  who  have  never  grown  those  at  all. 

The  desire  to  get  "something  for  nothing"  is 
quite  as  noticeable  among  the  guild  of  amateur 
gardeners  as  among  those  who  find  joy  in  bar- 
gain sales.  And  in  the  crocus  we  have  first  of  all 
93 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

a  bargain.  Thousands  for  a  few  dollars,  hundreds 
for  some  cents.  Next  in  cheapness  to  seeds  they 
are;  and  have  a  habit,  when  not  bothered  by  a 
nervous  or  too  transplanting  owner,  of  multiply- 
ing in  a  fashion  comforting  to  see.  In  the  nine 
years  in  which  I  have  been  growing  the  crocus  on 
our  small  piece  of  ground,  I  cannot  now  remember 
having  lost  any  except  in  cases  where  the  growth 
of  overhanging  or  overhungry  shrubbery  has  eaten 
up  the  little  things  at  its  feet. 

One  of  my  first  plantings  before  the  bare  east 
wall  of  brick  of  a  then  new  house  was  of  the  cro- 
cus Reine  Blanche,  a  fine  white,  in  groups  now 
dense,  now  more  open,  with  hosts  of  Scilla  Sibi- 
rica  crowding  among  them,  and  that  first  glory  of 
the  tulip  family,  Kaufmanniana,  holding  outspread 
back  of  and  above  the  little  blue-and-white  multi- 
tude its  Hlylike  flowers  —  flowers  which  only  open 
to  the  sun.  Tulipa  Kaufmanniana  is  costly,  I 
admit,  and  growing  more  so,  but,  as  in  the  case 
of  Darwin  and  May-flowering  tulips,  many  of 
which  are  rapidly  increasing  in  value,  delays  are 
dangerous.  Therefore,  buy  now  if  possible.  I 
must  have  often  described  it  before  —  its  general 
color  within  the  flower  a  rich  cream,  running  into 
clear  yellow  toward  the  centre  of  the  bloom;  on 
94 


EARLY    BULBS 

the  outside  of  each  petal  a  broad  band  of  dull 
reddish-rose.  To  myself  I  called  it  a  water-lily 
long  before  I  read  that  it  had  been  often  described 
as  the  water-Uly  tulip.  In  warm  corners  it  has 
opened  with  me  (latitude  of  Boston)  as  early  as 
March  25,  though  its  usual  flowering  time  in  our 
climate  is  mid-April. 

Among  the  florists'  varieties  of  crocus,  the  one 
with  true  magnificence  of  form  and  color  is  Crocus 
purpureus,  var.  grandiflorus.  Magnificent  is  a 
large  adjective  to  apply  to  a  low-growing  flower; 
ordinarily  one  should  reserve  it  for  the  altheas, 
or  the  finer  gladioli,  sensational  in  their  beauty. 
But  it  is  a  fact  that  people  unaccustomed  to  the 
sight  of  so  large  and  fine  a  crocus  as  this  can 
sometimes  not  be  persuaded  that  it  is  a  crocus; 
therefore,  the  word  may  be  permitted.  And  when 
close-growing  numbers  of  this  particular  beauty 
are  near  other  close  colonies  of  S cilia  Sibirica, 
there  is  then  a  spring  effect  worth  going  far  to 
see,  Maximilian,  a  clear  light-lavender,  is  a  fa- 
vorite with  me.  Madame  Mina,  white  with  rich 
lavender  stripes  the  length  of  its  fine  petals,  is  a 
beauteous  flower;  and  Reine  Blanche,  of  which 
mention  has  just  been  made,  one  of  the  loveliest 
imaginable  whites.  Mont  Blanc,  white,  is  also 
95 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

very  fine.  In  these  whites,  and  in  Madame  Mina 
as  well,  the  rich  orange  stigma  gives  a  very  glow- 
ing effect  as  one  looks  down  into  the  crocus  cup. 
As  for  the  yellow  crocuses,  I  never  look  at  them  if 
I  can  help  it!  I  have  a  few  remnants  of  them 
from  misguided  purchases  of  years  gone  by,  but 
I  am  always  meaning  to  clear  them  out  and  al- 
ways forgetting  to  do  it  till  their  small  squat 
flowers  are  gone  and  the  track  of  the  position  of 
the  bulbs  is  lost.  This  antipathy  to  the  yellow 
florists'  crocus,  which,  let  me  add,  does  not  extend 
in  my  case  to  the  yellow  of  the  species  crocus, 
may  be  the  prejudice  of  ignorance,  for  of  varieties 
other  than  Cloth  of  Gold  and  Large  Yellow  I 
know  nothing.  In  these  the  yellow  is  the  crude 
yellow  of  the  dandelion  (a  flower  I  hate  with  all 
my  might)  !  Mr.  E.  A.  Bowles,  of  Waltham 
Cross,  England,  tells  us  that  the  more  deHcate 
and  subtle  tones  of  yellow  are  to  be  found  in  sev- 
eral varieties  of  crocus  species;  it  is  to  these  that 
I  plan  to  turn  my  attention  with  great  ardor 
another  season. 

Few  of  these  species  crocus  do  I  already  know 

in  my  own  borders  —  only  half  a  dozen  —  and 

as  I  beheve  readers  will  rejoice  as  I  have  done 

in  some  of  Mr.  Bowles's  enthusiastic  comments 

96 


EARLY    BULBS 

on  or  descriptions  of  these  flowers,  I  offer  no  apol- 
ogy for  quoting  from  him,  as  I  mention  the  flowers 
of  which  he  knows  so  much,  through  years  of  col- 
lecting, growing,  and  study. 

Now,  in  spite  of  my  aversion  to  the  large  yel- 
low florists'  crocus,  I  do  like  Crocus  susianus, 
which  is  one  of  the  bright-yellows  before  mentioned 
(Color  chart.  Cadmium  yellow.  No.  1) .  But  Crocus 
susianus,  blooming  as  early  as  April  9,  planted 
very  thickly,  gave  in  my  border  the  interesting 
impression  of  a  large-flowering  yellow  Phlox  suhu- 
lata  —  practically  no  green  leaf  visible  below  the 
masses  of  bloom.  Five  to  seven  flowers  appear 
in  small,  tight  bunches  from  one  bulb;  and  back 
of  and  among  this  flowering  mass  of  yellow  I  had 
colonies  of  the  white  crocus  Mont  Blanc.  Let 
me  commend  this  very  simple  and  unstudied  ar- 
rangement. C.  susianus  is  much  dwarfer  than 
Mont  Blanc,  therefore  have  it  mainly  to  the 
front. 

Crocus  Sieberi  I  call  a  warm  pinkish-lavender 
(Color  chart,  Violet  mauve,  No.  1).  Six  to  eight 
flowers  come  from  a  bulb,  and  the  bright-orange 
stigmata  within  give  a  glowing  centre  to  the  little 
flower.  This  is  very  small  and  low.  Mr.  Bowles 
calls  it  a  "crocus  for  everj^  garden"  and  adds  that 
97 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

it  "seeds  freely  and  soon  spreads  in  any  sunny 
border." 

"Crocus  Korolkowi,''  to  quote  Mr.  Bowles 
again,  "from  the  far  East,  has  two  good  points 
—  it  flowers  early  and  is  of  a  peculiarly  brilliant 
form  of  yellow."  This  little  crocus  I  have  grown 
for  a  few  years  myself,  and  it  always  surprises 
me  by  appearing  practically  with  the  snowdrop. 

Crocus  biflorus,  the  "Scotch  crocus,"  is  white, 
with  pencillings  of  grayish  mauve  on  its  three 
outer  petals.  The  markings  are  exquisite  and  the 
early  blooming  of  this  crocus  marks  it  as  a  specially 
necessary  one. 

My  prime  favorite  among  all  these  species  cro- 
cus is  Crocus  Tommasinianus.  It  is  tall,  slender, 
delicate,  with  narrow,  pointed  petals,  of  a  lovely 
lavender,  slightly  bluer  than  Sieberi.  An  orange 
pistil  within  it  is  like  a  vivid  star.  It  has  great 
height  of  stem,  and  tapering  form  of  flower.  It 
is  the  one  which  most  delights  me  as  a  novice  in 
crocus-collecting;  and  last  spring,  in  a  limited 
space  where  the  ground  runs  up  into  a  rather 
steepish  slope  for  a  few  feet,  which  slope  is  cov- 
ered by  a  thick  group  of  the  little  tree  known  as 
the  garland  thorn,  there  beneath  the  small  tree 
stems  I  hope  to  see  next  spring  hundreds  of  little 


EARLY    BULBS 

candles,  lavender  candles  of  Crocus  Tommasini- 
anus  running  up  the  tiny  hillside,  and  racing  along 
beside  them  a  company  of  Galanthus  Elwesii,  their 
companions  in  time  of  bloom.  "I  have  found," 
writes  Mr.  Bowles,  "C.  Tommasinianus  so  far  to 
prove  the  most  satisfactory  of  the  wild  species 
for  spreading  and  holding  its  own  when  planted 
in  grass." 

Several  beautiful  new  seedling  crocuses  have 
come  within  a  few  years  from  Holland  —  May 
and  Dorothea  —  the  latter  a  "soft,  pale  lavender- 
mauve,"  May  "a  beautiful  white  of  fine  form." 
These  two  I  have;  not,  however,  Kathleen  Par- 
low,  said  to  be  an  extra-fine  white,  with  wonder- 
ful orange  anthers,  nor  Distinction,  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  pink  color  in  crocus. 

The  beauty  of  tulip  Kaujmanniana  was  never, 
I  fancy,  better  set  forth  in  a  photograph  than  in 
that  which  is  shown  on  page  98.  To  the  kind- 
ness of  Mr.  Bowles  himself  I  owe  this  picture  of 
perfect  spring  loveliness,  and  to  the  kindness  of 
the  distinguished  Scottish  amateur  Mr.  S.  Arnott 
the  picture  of  the  blue  grape  hyacinth,  Hyacinthus 
lineatus  azureus.  This  flowered  in  Mr.  Arnott's 
garden  in  February,  1912,  and  is,  I  believe,  a 
rare  variety. 

99. 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

To  my  eyes  it  is  so  charming  a  picture  of  the 
type  that  its  inclusion  here  will  surely  give  pleasure 
to  those  to  whom  these  "small  and  early"  things 
are  objects  of  interest. 


100 


VIII 

COLOR  ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  DARWIN 
TULIPS  AND  OTHER  SPRING-FLOWER- 
ING  BULBS 


'Along  the  lawns  the  tulip  lamps  are  lit.'* 

—  Rosamund  Marriott  Watsox. 


VIII 

COLOR  ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  DARWIN 
TULIPS  AND  OTHER  SPRING-FLOWER- 
ING BULBS 

I  BELIEVE  I  shall  always  remember  May, 
1913,  as  the  Darwinian  May.  As  the  mention 
of  this  adjective  is  doubtless  music  to  the  ear  of 
the  scientist,  so  its  sound  is  equally  delectable  to 
the  possessor  and  lover  of  the  Darwin  tulips.  In 
a  bit  of  writing  appearing  some  time  ago  in  this 
journal,  I  set  down  a  list  of  Darwins  arranged 
for  color  combination,  taken  from  a  fine  English 
source.  These  I  tried  for  the  first  time  this  year; 
and  I  assure  the  reader  when  I  saw  them  I  fell 
down  and  worshipped.  A  pageant  of  color,  a 
marvellous  procession  of  flowery  grandeur  —  no 
words  are  mine  in  which  to  tell  of  my  sensations 
on  seeing  this  beauty  for  the  first  time;  and  the 
sensations  were  not  mine  alone.  They  were 
shared  by  all  those  who  saw  them,  among  them 
some  sophisticated  eyes,  eyes  which  might  not 
show  delight  without  good  cause. 
103 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

The  color  arrangement  proved  not  so  good  as 
I  had  hoped.  And,  thanks  to  an  ingenious  guest, 
we  rearranged  for  next  year  in  this  fashion:  One 
tuhp  of  each  variety  was  cut  and  labelled  with  a 
slip  of  paper.  These  cut  tulips  were  then  placed 
in  the  open  spaces  of  the  rattan  or  cane  seat  of 
a  Chinese  chair,  the  large  flowers  resting  against 
the  back  and  sides  of  the  chair.  The  round  open- 
ings in  the  woven  cane  exactly  admitted  the  stiff 
stems  of  the  Darwins;  the  background  of  basket- 
looking  stuff  was  most  becoming  to  the  gay 
flowers,  and  at  our  leisure,  seated  in  comfort  be- 
fore our  tulip  galaxy,  we  arranged  and  rearranged 
till  the  following  plan  evolved  itself  —  a  plan  of 
which  I  append  a  rather  feebly  drawn  chart  —  a 
plan,  however,  which  I  recommend  with  my  whole 
heart,  a  Darwinian  theory  less  abstruse  if  not  more 
certain  in  its  outcome  than  that  of  him  in  whose 
honor  these  noble  spring  flowers  are  named. 

Another  probably  successful  arrangement  of 
spring  flowers  suggests  itself.  Why  should  not 
the  tall  lemon-colored  blooms  of  Tulipa  Vitellina 
show  back  of  rather  close  groupings  of  Scilla  cam- 
panulata's  lavender  bells,  while  the  tender  yellow 
of  Alyssum  saxatile,  var.  sulphureum,  creates  a 
charming  foreground  ?  The  three  flowers  bloomed 
104 


TUUP   SAFRAXO    (bKIMSTOKe)    AND   MYOSOTIS    BELOW    YOUNG   LILACS 


COLOR    ARRANGEMENTS 

with  mc  'Ms  year  at  the  same  time,  and  I  cannot 
but  advise  a  trial  planting  of  them  together  — 
say  a  dozen  of  the  tulips,  fifty  scillas,  and  six  or 
seven  roots  of  the  beautiful  hardy  alyssum,  and 
you  have  a  picture  which  a  true  "garden  soul'* 
will  feel  beneath  the  ground  in  winter.  This  could 
be  done  in  a  spot  apart,  a  bit  of  ground  sacred  to 
adventures  in  flowers. 

And  while  we  are  on  adventures  in  flowers, 
may  I  impart  a  few  impressions  of  some  tulips 
seen  this  spring  for  the  first  time  ?  Really  revela- 
tions —  some  of  them  unspeakably  beautiful. 
Coming,  for  instance,  unexpectedly  upon  Tulipa 
viridiflora  was  like  coming  upon  a  specially  beau- 
tiful green-and-white  trillium  in  a  wood.  This 
tulip  has  that  precious  look  of  not  having  been 
evolved.  Yet  it  is  a  May-flowering  or  cottage 
tulip.  What  pleasure  in  a  few  bulbs  of  this 
unique  flower,  in  its  aspect  of  untouchedness ! 
It  cannot  be  possible,  one  thinks,  that  the  deli- 
cate bands  of  green  up  and  down  its  palest  yel- 
low-painted petals  were  not  set  there  by  the  skil- 
ful eye  and  brush  of  perhaps  the  Japanese ! 

Tulip  The  Fawn,  a  Darwin  this,  was  almost  un- 
believable in  its  beauty.  No  description  of  it  in 
print  satisfies  me.  May  I  here  give  my  own? 
105 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Pale  amber  to  cream-color  outside,  suffused  with 
soft  pinkish  lavender,  the  whole  effect  that  of  a 
tea-rose.  Why  not  give  it  a  subtitle  —  the  tea-rose 
tulip  ?  And  why  not  grow  it  with  that  deep,  rich 
purple  Darwin  Faust?  The  contrast  between 
these  two  is  tremendously  striking,  yet  there  is  a 
certain  harmony  of  tone  which  allows  of  their 
dwelling  together  not  only  in  peace  but  in  beauty. 

Gudin,  a  tall  tulip  of  a  pale-mauve  hue,  look- 
ing its  best  near  a  group  of  the  stately  Innocence, 
was  another  of  the  wonders  of  the  spring.  Or- 
pheus was  a  charming  flower  turning  to  warm  rose 
in  its  last  days;  Emerald  Gem,  oddly  named  when 
its  richest  of  salmon  blooms  are  considered,  with 
Orange  Globe  should  form  a  combination  of  bril- 
liant color  unsurpassed;  and  in  Dom  Pedro  we 
have  a  Breeder  tulip,  a  flower  of  wonderful  ma- 
hogany tones  which  I  should  ever  choose  to  see 
associated  with  Coridion,  lovely  "clear  yellow 
with  stripe  of  lilac  through  centre  of  petal." 

About  June  3  comes  Ixiolirion  macrantha,  like 
a  small  lavender  lily,  with  delicate  tubular  flowers, 
as  many  as  a  dozen  up  and  down  the  graceful 
waving  stem.  The  leafage  of  this  flower  is  scanty; 
what  there  is,  is  of  a  grayish-green  which  makes 
the  flower  a  fit  companion  for  the  dusty  miller 
106 


COLOR    ARRANGEMENTS 

{Senecio  cineraria).  The  ixiolirion  is  one  of  the 
bravest  of  bulbs,  coming  triumphantly  through 
the  bitter  frosts  of  last  winter.  Ixiolirion  pallasi 
is  named  as  a  good  one,  and  this  I  hope  to  try. 
The  lasting  quahty  of  ixiolirion  in  water  is  one 
of  its  recommendations;  and  because  it  is  so  very 
perfect  when  cut,  if  used  with  sprays  of  Deutzia 
Lemoineii  —  for  daytime  use  on  the  table,  that 
is,  for  I  have  yet  to  find  the  blue  that  can  prop- 
erly be  used  under  artificial  light  —  I  hope  to  let 
a  quantity  of  these  beautiful  waving  things  blow 
near  and  before  the  low  bushes  of  the  deutzia 
next  spring.  These  will  follow  the  tiny  Italian 
Tulipa  clusiana,  whose  slender  beauty  grows 
dearer  every  year.  Clusiana  is  neighbored  by 
Puschkinia  and  the  two  are  preceded  by  some 
species  of  crocus  —  the  Scotch,  I  think,  var.  C. 
hiflorus  pusillus. 

So  we  achieve  an  uncommon  spring  planting, 
delicate  and  lovely  for  weeks  from  the  end  of 
April  to  the  first  of  June,  always  interesting 
whether  the  small  flowers  are  coming  or  going  — 
and  if  planted  with  judgment  and  discrimination 
as  to  natural-looking  arrangement,  regard  to 
height  and  color,  we  may  without  fear  of  disap- 
pointment think  in  December  of  the  rare  joys  in 
107 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

store  for  us  in  that  spot  when  it  shall  have  been 
touched  by  the  suns  of  spring. 

A  charming  happening  has  just  taken  place  in 
the  borders.  The  bush  honeysuckles  of  Michigan 
were  never  more  gloriously  covered  with  their  veils 
of  white  and  rose  than  this  spring.  It  may  have 
been  the  gradually  warming  season,  the  uninter- 
rupted progress  from  leaf -bud  to  blossom;  in  any 
case,  the  tale  is  the  same  all  about  us  —  the  loni- 
ceras  have  been  remarkably  fine.  Below  a  tower- 
ing group  of  Lonicera,  var.  bella  albida,  whose 
flowers  in  early  June  are  just  passing,  crowds  of 
the  swaying  long-spurred  hybrid  aquilegias  bloom 
and  blow.  Most  of  us  now  know  the  unusual  deli- 
cacy and  range  of  color  in  these  charming  flowers 
—  faint  pinks,  yellows,  blues,  and  lavenders  — 
all  pale  and  poised  as  they  are. 

But  oh !  to  catch  beyond,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  honeysuckle  boughs,  as  I  did  but  now,  the 
sight  of  masses  of  blooming  pink  scillas,  Scilla 
campanulata,  var.  rosea,  at  precisely  the  moment 
and  in  precisely  the  place  where  its  modest  beauty 
was  most  perfectly  displayed  —  to  have  this  as  a 
surprise,  not  a  special  plan  —  here  was  a  pleasure 
of  a  quality  all  too  seldom  felt  and  known.  Noth- 
ing could  carry  on  and  repeat  the  tones  of  the  pink 
108 


COLOR    ARRANGEMENTS 

and  lavender  aquilegias  as  does  this  loveliest  of 
late  scillas.  In  appearance  more  like  a  tall  lily- 
of-the-valley  than  any  other  flower  I  can  call  to 
mind,  in  tone  so  cool  a  pink  that  it  is  perfect  in 
combination  with  the  blue,  lavender,  or  pink  col- 
umbines. It  is  enchanting  as  their  neighbor  and 
far  more  interesting  thus  used  than  in  the  more 
commonplace  proximity  to  its  cousin  or  sister, 
the  lavender  Scilla  campanulatay  var.  excelsior, 
blooming  at  the  same  time.  To  me  it  would  be 
dull  to  see  sheets  of  these  two  spring  flowers  near 
each  other  or  intermingling.  Dull,  I  mean,  com- 
pared with  such  a  possibihty  as  the  combination 
I  have  tried  to  describe  and  which  was  simply 
one  of  those  heavenly  accidents  befalling  all  too 
rarely  the  ardent  gardener. 

On  this  June  day  the  buds  in  my  garden  are 
almost  as  enchanting  as  the  open  flowers.  Things 
in  bud  bring,  in  the  heat  of  a  June  noontide,  the 
recollection  of  the  loveliest  days  of  the  year  — 
those  days  of  May  when  all  is  suggested,  nothing 
yet  fulfilled.  To-day  I  have  been  looking  at 
something  one  of  these  photographs  feebly  tries 
to  show  —  tall  spikes  of  pale-pink  Canterbury 
bells,  the  flowers  unusually  large,  standing  against 
a  softly  rounding  background  of  gypsophila  in 
109 


THE   WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

bud;  to  the  left  of  the  campanulas,  leaves  of  Iris 
'pallida  Dalmatica,  so  tall  that  their  presence  is 
immediately  felt;  a  little  before,  but  still  to  the 
left  of  the  pink  spikes  and  the  iris,  perhaps  a 
dozen  tall  silvery  velvet  stems  of  Stachys  lanata, 
whose  tiny  flowers  give  but  a  hint  of  their  pale 
lavender  as  yet,  and  are  lost  in  the  whiteness  of 
the  young  leaflets,  and  —  and  this  is  the  thing 
which  really  creates  the  picture  —  three  or  four 
spreading  branches,  a  foot  from  the  ground  and 
directly  below  the  campanulas,  of  Statice  incana 
Silver  Cloud,  tiny  points  of  white  showing  that 
the  whole  dense  spray  will  soon  be  full  of  flowers. 
Below  and  among  the  campanulas  (which  I 
keep  in  bloom  a  very  long  time  by  a  careful  daily 
taking  off  of  every  shrivelling  bloom)  stand  sal- 
mon-pink balsams,  these  to  replace  with  their  two- 
foot  masses  of  flowers  the  campanulas  when  the 
latter's  day  is  over  and  to  rise  above  the  gray- 
white  leaves  of  the  stachys  when  its  blooming 
time  is  also  past.  This  stachys  is  a  lovely  ad- 
junct to  the  garden.  The  texture  of  its  leaves  is 
a  matter  of  surprise  to  every  one  who  touches 
them.  Most  people  would  call  stachys  "woolly," 
but  I  do  not  like  this  word  —  (is  it  because  I  live 
in  the  West  ?)  —  and  why  apply  an  unpoetic 
110 


PINK    CANTERBURY    BELLS,    STACHYS    LANATA 


■'i:     vr 


'''       ij.'''       i4^"  ■        ~»  ^*'*  r''4 


From  '•  The  Garden  Month  by  Month."     By  courtesy  of  Frederick  A.  Stoket  Company 
BELLIS    PERENNIS   AND    NARCISSUS    POETICUS 


COLOR    ARRANGEMENTS 

word  to  any  one  of  the  lovely  inhabitants  of  our 
gardens  ? 

It  came  about  that  a  space  before  the  bush 
honeysuckles  —  the  pink  flowering  variety,  Loni- 
cera  Tatarica,  var.  rosea  —  in  a  border,  needed  fill- 
ing with  lower  shrubs.  The  piece  of  ground  to 
be  furnished  was  perhaps  fifteen  feet  long  by  three 
wide,  though  irregular  in  both  width  and  outhne. 
Last  autumn  Rosa  nitida  had  been  there  set  out, 
planted  about  three  feet  apart.  Bare  ground  for 
this  year  and  next  was  sure  to  spoil  the  look  of 
things  while  these  roses  were  yet  young,  and  a 
covering  for  it  was  thus  managed.  Canterbury- 
bell  plants  were  distributed  in  small  groups  among 
the  roses,  especially  toward  the  back  of  the  border; 
and  English  irises,  Rossini  and  Mr.  Veen,  were 
tucked  in  in  longish  colonies  before  and  among 
the  campanulas.  In  ordinary  seasons  these  irises 
might  not  have  bloomed  with  the  campanulas, 
but  this  year  it  was  Monte  Cristo-hke  —  the 
flower  and  the  hour !  —  with  a  resultant  superb 
effect  of  color.  Mr.  Veen,  a  true  violet  iris,  Ros- 
sini, a  purplish-blue,  were  good  together  to  me,  who 
differ  from  Miss  Jekyll  in  possessing  a  penchant 
for  blue  combined  with  purple  or  with  lavender. 

To  compare  a  bloom  of  one  of  these  irises  with 
lU 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

a  spray  of  the  Dropinore  anchusa  is  to  get  an  ex- 
tremely vivid  and  interesting  idea  of  the  effect 
of  colors  upon  each  other.  Taken  alone,  Iris 
xiphioides,  var.  Mr.  Veen,  is  a  blue  without  very 
much  purple  in  its  tone;  beside  the  anchusa  all 
the  blue  vanishes  —  the  iris  is  a  distinct  purple; 
place  it  beside  Rossini,  it  becomes  blue  again;  and 
grow  masses  of  Rossini  below  the  anchusa,  es- 
pecially the  variety  Opal,  and  there  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  juxtapositions  possible  in  flowers 
—  so  far  as  I  know  an  original  combination  of 
color  and  one  to  charm  an  artist,  I  believe.  An- 
chusa of  a  year's  standing,  a  three-foot  anchusa, 
might  be  best  to  use  in  this  way.  The  two-foot 
iris  would  prove  a  good  companion. 

There  follows,  soon  after  the  gray-and-pink  com- 
bination in  my  garden  of  which  I  spoke  a  few 
paragraphs  back,  the  combination  of  pink  Cam- 
panula medium  and  Stachys  lanata,  a  time  when 
one  of  the  loveliest  of  all  double  poppies  lights  up 
the  little  place  with  color.  For  this  poppy  —  an 
annual  —  there  is  no  registered  name.  It  is  dou- 
ble, extremely  full,  perhaps  three  feet  in  height,  and 
of  a  delicious  rosy -pink,  exactly  the  pink  of  the 
best  mallows,  or  of  the  enchanting  half-open  rose- 
buds of  the  ever-lovely  rambler  Lady  Gay.  To 
112 


COLOR    ARRANGEMENTS 

see  three  or  four  of  these  poppies  in  full  bloom 
among  the  white  mist  of  gypsophila,  either  single 
or  double,  the  oat-green  of  the  poppy  leaves 
below,  is  to  see  something  more  delicately  beauti- 
ful than  often  occurs  in  gardens.  Many  packets 
of  the  seed  of  my  poppy  are  always  in  readiness, 
as  I  have  a  superabundance  of  the  same;  and  if 
ten  people  read  these  words,  and  if,  peradven- 
ture,  there  be  ten  gardeners  with  vision  to  see 
through  the  veil  of  these  sentences  the  rose-pink 
beauty  of  this  flower,  let  them  ask  for  a  bit  of 
this  seed,  for  it  is  theirs  for  the  asking ! 

The  love  of  flowers  brings  surely  with  it  the 
love  of  all  the  green  world.  For  love  of  flowers 
every  blooming  square  in  cottage  gardens  seen 
from  the  flying  windows  of  the  train  has  its  true 
and  touching  message  for  the  traveller;  every 
bush  and  tree  in  nearer  field  and  farther  wood 
becomes  an  object  of  delight  and  stirs  delightful 
thought.  When  I  see  a  rhubarb  plant  in  a  small 
rural  garden,  I  respect  the  man,  or  more  generally 
the  woman,  who  placed  it  there.  If  my  eye  hghts 
upon  the  carefully  tended  peony  held  up  by  a  bar- 
rel hoop,  the  round  group  of  an  old  dicentra,  the 
fine  upstanding  single  plant  of  iris,  at  once  I  ex- 
perience the  warmest  feeling  of  friendliness  for 
113 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

that  householder,  and  wish  to  know  and  talk  with 
them  about  their  flowers.  For  at  the  bottom 
there  is  a  bond  which  breaks  down  every  other 
difference  between  us.     We  are  "Garden  Souls." 


IX 


NOTES    ON    SPRING    FLOWERS 


'April  appeared,  the  green  earth's  impulse  came 
Pushing  the  singing  sap  until  each  bud 
Trembled  with  delicate  life  as  soft  as  flame. 
Filled  with  the  mighty  heart-beat  as  with  blood.' 


IX 

NOTES    ON    SPRING    FLOWERS 

AN  ever-astonishing  thing  to  me  in  gardening  is 
-  the  overlapping  of  the  times  of  bloom  in 
flowers.  As  I  walk  about  in  May  I  am  sure  to 
see  some  inhabitant  of  the  borders  up  and  doing, 
earlier  than  I  think  he  should  be.  One  is  ab- 
sorbed in  what  is  already  open;  the  budding  of 
coming  flowers  goes  unnoticed  and  their  little  soft, 
colorful  cries  for  attention  come  as  a  surprise. 

Under  an  ancient  thorn,  known  to  Professor 
Sargent  and  a  few  others  as  Crataegus  punctata  — 
a  thorn  which  stands  against  old  apple-trees,  and 
which,  as  soon  as  the  petals  of  apple-blossoms  have 
fallen  and  disappeared,  becomes  a  wreath  of  white 
against  the  apple-leaves  —  under  this  blooming 
thorn  there  stands  in  a  bold  group  the  fine  late 
tuhp,  Flava.  This  tulip  has  a  way  of  fading  in 
curious  and  beautiful  fashion.  In  its  first  stage 
it  is  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  imposing  of 
early  flowers;  its  bloom  is  held  high  in  air;  its 
stem  is  absolutely  erect;  its  color  a  soft  straw- 
117 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

yellow;  its  leaves  very  low,  large,  and  of  a  fine 
bluish-green;  the  blooms  open  wide,  their  four 
petals  at  the  top  of  the  stalk,  like  lilies  held  erect, 
and  the  inside  of  each  petal  seems  to  take  on  a 
certain  pallor  toward  the  centre,  leaving  an  edge 
of  deeper  tone.  The  effect  is  indescribably  beau- 
tiful in  its  way  —  a  tulip  swan-song,  thought  I,  as 
I  gazed. 

A  fine  tulip  new  to  me  last  spring  was  Nau- 
ticas.  Here  the  color  within  the  petals  is  Vin  de 
Bordeaux  No.  1,  shading  toward  the  upper  edges 
to  Rose  lilace  No.  2.*  The  inner  basal  spots  of 
Nauticas  are  of  Indigo  grisatre  No.  1,  very  strik- 
ing in  effect;  and  the  leaves  of  this  tall  tulip  were 
of  so  rarely  good  a  green  that  even  their  color  was 
recorded.  It  proved  to  be  a  trifle  darker  than 
Vert  bouteille  No.  4.  If  any  reader  wonders  at 
my  enthusiasm  for  this  tulip,  a  flower  incompara- 
ble as  it  seems  to  me,  let  him  place  next  each  other 
the  color  plates  here  mentioned,  imagine  a  finely 
rising  stem  and  large  broad  leaves,  of  the  richest 
of  greens,  crowned  by  a  rose-purple  flower  of  per- 
fect form.  He  will  wonder  no  more  that  the  tulip 
is  thus  commended. 

*  Color  references  apply  either  to  the  French  color  chart  "  Repertoire  de 
Couleurs,"  or  to  "Color  Standards  and  Color  Nomenclature,"  by  Dr. 
Robert  Ridgway. 

118 


SPRING    FLOWERS 

Of  Zomerschoon  the  rare,  the  beautiful,  I  own 
but  a  dozen  bulbs.  A  detailed  description  from 
the  color  chart  is  necessary,  as  this  wonder  among 
tulips  has  many  colors.  The  upper  outside  of 
inner  petals  shows  Rouge  d'Andrinople  No.  1,  but 
a  trifle  lighter  than  the  shade  in  the  plate.  There 
is  remarkable  life  in  this  color  as  it  appears  in 
the  tulip.  Flamed  and  feathered  with  a  true 
cream-white,  with  a  slightly  bluish  sheen  on  the 
centres  of  the  outer  petals,  the  flower  is  of  inde- 
scribable beauty.  There  is  not  one  to  equal  it 
for  charm,  for  luscious  combination  of  salmon 
and  cream.  It  is  never  likely  to  become  plentiful, 
it  is  such  a  slow  one  to  increase. 

Although  we  hear  rumors  of  a  possible  short- 
age for  next  season  in  tulips  in  violet,  lavender, 
and  bronze  tones,  it  is  quite  out  of  the  question 
in  these  notes  to  pass  by  one  of  these  beauties. 
Mauve  Clair,  a  Darwin  variety  of  unusual  quality, 
is  one  of  the  best.  The  general  tone  of  this  tulip 
is  Violet  de  Parme  No.  1,  while  the  flame  or  mark- 
ing of  the  outer  petals  is  of  Violet  d'aconit  No.  1. 
Tulip  Bouton  d'Or,  whose  yellow  as  seen  in  the 
French  chart  is  Jaune  cadmium  No.  1,  has  a  per- 
fectly unvarying  tone  throughout  the  flower. 
Thus  I  found  several  of  these  tulips;  yet  again, 
119 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

with  other  blooms  of  Bouton  d'Or,  Jaune  chrome 
moyen  No.  1,  petals  edged  with  No.  3  of  the  same 
color,  seemed  a  more  perfect  description.  I  give 
the  two  for  accuracy's  sake.  The  black  anthers 
of  Bouton  d'Or  add  appreciably  to  its  interest. 

A  tulip  of  far  paler  yellow  than  Bouton  d'Or 
is  Moonlight,  another  cottage  tulip,  so  elegant, 
so  distinguished,  as  to  relegate  Bouton  d'Or  at 
once  to  a  sort  of  tulip  bourgeoisie.  Moonlight  is 
beautifully  named,  with  its  pale  tones  of  yellow 
and  charmingly  proportioned  flower.  The  gen- 
eral tone  of  Moonlight  in  the  chart  is  Jaune  citron 
No.  1  or  Jaune  prima vere  No.  1 ;  within  its  petals 
Jaune  soufre  No.  4  prevails. 

While  among  the  yellow  tulips,  Sprengeri,  the 
latest  of  all  tulips  to  bloom,  must  not  be  over- 
looked. Tulipa  Sprengeri,  to  be  sure,  is  not  yel- 
low; it  is  an  orange-scarlet  and  thereby  related 
to  the  yellows  (Orange  de  Mars  No.  2,  edges  of 
inner  petals  Orange  rougeatre  No.  1).  The  out- 
side of  each  outer  petal  is  flamed  through  the 
centre  with  Rouge  cuivre.  This  tulip  I  have 
growing  among  close-packed  roots  of  a  pearl-gray 
German  iris,  name  unknown.  The  two  come  into 
flower  simultaneously;  the  tulip  is  quite  as  tall 
as  the  iris,  and  the  two  flowers  are  strikingly 
120 


SPRING    FLOWERS 

good  together.  Sprengeri  grows  taller  with  me 
than  any  other  tulip,  Louis  XIV  alone  excepted. 
It  is  a  persistent  grower,  too,  appearing  year 
after  year  as  do  almost  no  others  except  Tulipa 
Gesneriana,  var.  rosea,  that  gay  and  resolute  little 
bloom  always  so  enchanting  above  forget-me- 
nots. 

Near  Philadelphia  last  spring  a  marvellously 
lovely  combination  of  tulips  and  iris  was  to  be 
seen.  A  long,  narrow  bed  had  been  made  in  the 
centre  of  a  similarly  long  and  narrow  piece  of 
sward.  This  straight  hne  was  a  glowing  band  of 
German  iris  of  the  richest  purple-blue,  and  of  a 
brilliant  yellow  tulip  set  in  tall  and  ordered 
groups  alternating  in  effective  fashion  with  the 
iris.  Of  the  tulips  there  seemed  to  be  fifteen  or 
twenty  in  a  group,  and  the  variety,  I  thought,  was 
Mrs.  Moon.  The  name  of  the  iris  is  wanting; 
but  it  was  the  counterpart  of  one  of  my  own 
which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  a  farmer's  wife, 
and  whose  colors,  according  to  the  chart,  are  Bleu 
d'aniline  No.  4  in  the  standards  and  Violet  de 
violette  in  the  falls. 

A  further  suggestion  for  iris-and-tulip  grouping 
(this  from  an  English  source)  is  a  bold  use  of  the 
deep  purple-blue  iris  thinly  interspersed  with  the 
121 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

lavender  Darwin  tulip  Reverend  H.  Ewbank.  In 
my  own  part  of  the  country  it  is  rarely  that  the 
Darwin  or  May-flowering  tulip  overlaps  in  time 
of  bloom  upon  the  German  iris,  but  in  the  lati- 
tude of  Philadelphia  these  plants  may  be  expected 
to  give  flowers  together. 

A  group  of  Darwins  in  brilliant  cherry-rose 
tones  we  may  notice  next.  These  gay  occupants 
of  the  spring  border  hold  less  charm  for  me  than 
some  of  their  less  flaunting  fellows,  the  reason 
being  the  difficulty  of  combining  them  well  with 
tulips  of  other  colors.  True,  they  may  serve  as 
a  climax  where  first  lavender,  then  deep-violet 
tulips  are  used  in  successive  groupings.  But  with 
white  tulips,  dead-white,  they  are  not  agreeable 
to  the  eye;  with  primrose  and  yellow  they  do  not 
particularly  agree;  with  mauve  and  bronze  not 
at  all.  The  two  which  shall  be  singled  out  for 
special  mention  are  both  Darwins,  Professor  Fran- 
cis Darwin  and  Edmee.  The  tones  of  Professor 
Darwin  according  to  the  chart  are  Rouge  fraise 
No.  2  within  the  petals,  Vin  de  Bordeaux  No. 
2  outside.  This  tulip  has  a  pale  lemon-colored 
pistil  and  a  prismatic  blue-black  base.  In  Edmee 
the  outer  petals  are  of  Amaranthe  No.  1,  with 
much  blue  in  these  pinkish  tones.  These  tulips 
122 


DARWIN   TULIPS    WITH    IRIS    GERMANICA 


SPRING    FLOWERS 

are  beauteous  instances  of  the  development  of 
their  race. 

Let  me  suggest  to  those  who  do  not  yet  know 
the  newer  Darwins,  Cottage  tuhps,  Breeders,  and 
Rembrandts  an  investment  in  a  few  bulbs  next 
fall,  if  only  a  half-dozen  of  each  of  some  of  the 
finer  varieties,  and,  each  for  himself,  see  the  won- 
ders of  these  flowers.  Make  your  selections  now 
and  place  your  orders  at  once  for  fall  delivery. 
In  the  first  three  classes,  if  I  were  to  choose  four 
out  of  each  as  introductory  lists,  they  should  be 
these : 

Cottage  or  May -flowering  Tulips:  Retroflexa  su- 
perba.  Moonlight,  the  Fawn,  Inglescombe  Pink. 
Darwins:  Clara  Butt,  Reverend  H.  Ewbank, 
Gudin,  and  Sophrosyne.  Breeders:  Coridion, 
Golden  Bronze,  Louis  XIV,  Goldfinch,  Velvet 
King,  and  Cardinal  Manning. 

These  are  but  short  lists,  not  combinations  of 
color  —  samples  of  some  of  the  finer  varieties 
in  the  three  classes.  Would  that  I  might  have 
named  Zomerschoon  in  the  Cottage  group  —  Zo- 
merschoon,  that  too  costly  tulip  of  unforgettable 
beauty. 

And  now  for  a  few  combinations  of  tulips  with 
other  flowers.  The  gayest  knot  of  flowers  of 
123 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

spring  may  be  produced  by  the  joint  use  of  Tulipa 
Gesneriana,  var.  rosea^  with  one  of  the  taller  forget- 
me-nots,  such  as  Perfection  or  Royal  Blue.  In 
this  vivid-crimson  tulip  there  is  a  dull-blue  base; 
something  of  that  blue  is  perhaps  imparted  to 
the  rosy  chalice  of  the  flower  and  makes  it  perfect 
company  for  the  sweetest  of  pale  blossoms. 

Mr.  Divers,  head  gardener  to  the  Duke  of 
Rutland,  makes  these  suggestions  as  to  combina- 
tions of  tulips  and  low-growing  plants  to  flower 
together:  Couleur  Cardinal,  a  single  early  tulip, 
with  Phlox  divaricata;  tulip  Picotee  is  also  rec- 
ommended with  the  phlox;  and  the  same  fine 
tulip  with  myosotis  Royal  Blue.  This  should  be 
exceedingly  good,  especially  as  we  recall  the  rosy 
flushing  of  Picotee  as  it  ages.  For  a  very  lively 
effect,  tulip  Vermilion  Brilliant  is  suggested  as 
a  companion  to  the  pale-yellow  primrose.  Mr. 
Divers  uses  ribbon  grass  {Phalaris  arundinacea, 
var.  variegata)  with  Phlox  divaricata,  tulip  Picotee, 
and  Auhrietia  Leichtlini,  plants  which  when  prop- 
erly set  with  relation  to  each  other's  heights  and 
habits  must  surely  make  a  perfect  picture  in 
lavender  and  rose. 

Another  authority  on  tulips  would  have  tulip 
Thomas   Moore,   that   tawny-orange   flower,  rise 


SPRING    FLOWERS 

above  yellow  primroses;  the  Darwin  Erguste 
bloom  over  Phlox  divaricata,  or  Bouton  d'Or  with 
myosotis.  All  these  are  good;  and  a  trial  of  any 
two  together  must  convince  the  doubter  that  half 
spring's  pleasure  lies  in  tulip  time. 

Tulip  Bouton  d'Or,  almost  droll  in  its  fat  round- 
ness, and  whose  rare  rich  yellow  is  already  de- 
scribed, proved  most  excellent  in  conjunction  with 
the  cushion  irises  in  flower,  such  varieties  as  Isis 
and  Helense.  Their  strange  red-purples  were 
very  sumptuous  among  groups  of  these  tulips. 
Tulip  Le  Reve,  that  flower  w^hose  beauty  is  one 
of  my  perennial  delights,  showed  a  peculiar  charm 
rising  among  colonies  of  Mertensia  Virginica.  The 
general  tone  of  Le  Reve,  according  to  the  color 
chart,  is  Rose  brule  No.  1;  the  petals  are  feath- 
ered with  Rose  violace  No.  4,  while  the  centres 
of  the  outer  petals  show  Lilas  rougeatre.  The 
mertensia  flowers  are  of  Bleu  d'azur  No.  1, 
though  more  lavender-blue  and  with  greater  depth 
of  tone.  The  buds  are  of  Violet  de  cobalt  No.  1, 
the  leaves  Vert  civette  No.  3. 

A  suggestion  for  spring  planting  noted  last  season 

was  the  remarkably  rich  effect  of  tulips  Purple 

Perfection,  Vitcllina,  and  Innocence  with  cut  buds 

and  blooms  of  the  superb  purple  lilac  Ludwig 

125 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Spaeth.  A  noble  combination,  this,  for  a  border 
in  which  interesting  and  original  color  is  desired. 
Tulip  President  Lincoln  I  thought  a  great  find. 
The  chart  description  of  it  would  be  this:  darkest 
tone  of  petal,  Violet  d'iris  No.  2;  paler  part  of 
petal,  Lilas  violace  No.  2.  Let  me  suggest  with 
every  confidence  in  its  value  the  growing  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  with  the  two  tulips,  Mrs.  Collier 
and  Doctor  Hardy,  shown  in  color  on  the  cover 
of  the  Reverend  Joseph  Jacob's  capital  book, 
''Tuhps,"  that  book  written  from  "the  innate 
fire  of  an  enthusiast's  heart."  The  Fawn,  the 
well-known  Darwin  tulip,  was  grown  among  two- 
year-old  plants  of  Hydrangea  arborescens.  Blanc 
rose  No.  3,  in  the  chart,  gives  an  idea  of  the 
tone  of  the  outer  petals  of  this  very  wonderful 
flower,  but  its  luminous  quality  will  not  be  de- 
scribed. An  underlying  tone  of  palest  yellow  in 
the  tulip  made  it  peculiarly  lovely  among  the 
leaves  of  the  hydrangea. 

I  have  come  to  believe  myself  among  the  most 
impressionable  of  gardeners;  delighted  at  the 
least  indication  of  the  love  of  flowers  in  a  casual 
acquaintance;  ever  ready  to  set  off  at  short  no- 
tice to  look  at  gardens;  but  not  always  so  de- 
lighted with  what  I  find.  And  since  there  is  in 
U6 


SPRING    FLOWERS 

me  this  critical  quality,  born  doubtless  of  much 
looking  and  comparing  when  I  see,  as  I  saw  lately, 
a  garden  comparatively  small  in  compass  but  in- 
comparably interesting,  my  heart  fills  with  a  plea- 
sure not  unlike  the  poet's  at  the  sight  of  the  cele- 
brated daffodils. 

In  this  garden,  some  of  it  under  tall  trees,  a 
city  garden  not  a  hundred  miles  from  where  I 
live,  on  a  day  in  earliest  June,  there  was  to  be 
seen  a  most  lovely  flower  grouping,  in  which  the 
following  flowers  had  place:  Masses  of  that 
wonderful  pinkish-mauve  Iris  palliday  Queen  of 
May,  tall  lupines  of  rich  blue  near  by,  with  Iris 
Madame  Chereau  back  of  this,  while  before  the 
group  and  among  it  were  opening  on  tall  stems 
the  luscious  silken  salmon-pink  flowers  of  the 
two  Oriental  poppies  Mrs.  Perry  and  Mary  Stud- 
holme.  Below  these  the  coral  bells  of  heucheras 
(alum-root)  hung  at  the  tops  of  slender  swaying 
stems,  a  shghtly  richer  note  of  pink  than  the 
poppies. 

As  I  beheld  this  beauty  in  flowers,  I  said  to 
myself:  "Here  is  an  end  to  adjectives."  I  have 
none  in  which  to  adequately  describe  this  loveliness. 
It  must  be  seen  for  its  dehcacy,  its  evanescent 
quahty.  All  who  garden  know  the  texture  of 
127 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

the  poppy  petal,  of  the  flower  of  the  iris.  In 
no  medium  but  water-color  could  possibly  be  ex- 
pressed the  beauty,  the  daring  yet  delicate  beauty, 
of  this  arrangement  of  flowers.  I  am  permitted 
the  privilege  of  trying  to  describe  it  to  my  readers; 
and,  while  my  words  are  weak,  I  know  full  well 
that  any  flower-grower  is  to  be  congratulated  who 
may  endeavor  to  arrange  for  himself  the  picture 
here  set  forth.  All  hardy  perennials,  all  very 
hardy.  Do  pray  experiment  with  the  beauteous 
blooms;  set  them  out  together  this  coming  au- 
tumn in  some  sun-warmed  spot,  and  in  two  years 
behold  a  picture  unsurpassed  for  subtle  color  har- 
mony and  contrast.  In  this  garden  again  I  saw 
that  the  superb  poppy  of  the  group  above,  Mrs. 
Perry,  and  the  ever-glorious  Iris  pallida,  var.  Dal- 
matica,  dwell  most  happily  together,  the  poppy  a 
round  flower,  a  flower  on  horizontal  lines,  the  iris 
perpendicular,  standards  and  falls;  the  greens  of 
iris  and  of  poppy  foliage  delicately  contrasting;  in 
the  one  the  yellow  predominating,  in  the  other  the 
blue. 


328 


A    SMALL    SPRING    FLOWER 
BORDER 


**  Though  not  a  whisper  of  her  voice  he  hear. 
The  buried  bulb  does  know 
The  signals  of  the  year 
And  hails  far  Summer  with  his  lifted  spear." 

—  Coventry  Patmore. 


X 

A    SMALL    SPRING    FLOWER 
BORDER 

THE  tale  of  this  border  is  soon  told  —  not  the 
pleasure  of  it,  for  I  can  assure  the  reader 
that  from  early  spring  to  late  autumn,  from  the 
hour  when  peony  shoots  and  bulb  leaves  first 
pushed  their  way  through  the  ground,  there  has 
been  no  moment  when  this  place  had  not  a  pecul- 
iar interest.  A  slight  description  written  imme- 
diately after  the  original  planting  was  made,  and 
first  printed  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Garden  Club  of 
America,  may  here  be  introduced,  thanks  to  the 
courtesy  of  that  society. 

The  border  in  question  is  a  double  one,  a  bal- 
anced planting  on  either  side  of  a  walk  of  dark 
brick  about  two  and  a  half  feet  wide.  The  space 
allotted  to  flowers  flanking  the  walk  is  some  three 
feet.  Eight  subjects  are  used;  combinations  of 
color,  periods  of  bloom,  form  and  height  of  flowers 
and  plants,  all  are  considered. 

At  those  edges  of  the  borders  farthest  from 
131 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

the  walk  are  peonies  of  white  and  palest  pink  — 
Madame  Emile  Galle,  that  flower  of  enchant- 
ment predominating.  Next  the  peonies  toward 
the  walk,  comes  a  row  of  7m  pallida  Dalmatica, 
then  an  alternating  line  of  Iris  Kaempferi  and 
Spiraea  astilbe  Arendsii  Die  Walkure;  next  these 
the  Darwin  tulip  Agneta  planted  alternately  with 
English  iris  Mauve  Queen;  then  the  double  early- 
tulip  Yellow  Rose  with  myosotis. 

Bleu  Celeste,  the  double  early  tulip  which  Miss 
Jekyll  calls  the  bluest  of  tulips,  was  to  have 
bloomed  with  the  vivid  flower  of  tulip  Yellow  Rose. 
But  because  of  Miss  Jekyll's  commendation  of 
Bleu  Celeste,  or  possibly  for  the  more  prosaic 
reason  of  crop  failure  in  Holland,  my  very  late 
order  remained  unfilled,  and  Mr.  Van  Tubergen 
substituted  for  it  the  Darwin  Agneta.  This,  he 
assures  me,  is  nearly  the  color  of  Bleu  Celeste. 
Alas !  unfortunately  for  me,  Agneta  blooms  after 
Yellow  Rose,  thus  I  may  not  look  for  the  lovely 
bands  of  clear  yellow  and  dull  blue  which  were 
to  have  adorned  my  border  in  early  May.  Close 
to  the  brick  itself  are  mounds  of  Myosotis  dissiti- 
flora  and  Sutton's  Royal  Blue,  an  early  and  a 
late,  while  back  of  these  are  lines  of  Alyssum  sul- 
phureum,  the  hardy  one  of  primrose-yellow. 
132 


SPRING  FLOWER  BORDER 

I  count  on  the  Japanese  iris  as  an  ally  of  the 
English  one  (though,  oddly  enough,  this  was  ar- 
ranged long  before  war  broke  out),  the  latter  said 
to  be  a  delicious  shade  of  pinkish  mauve.  The 
cool  pink  spirea,  too,  should  create  a  delicate  foil 
for  the  broad-petalled  Iris  Kaempferi,  and  my 
faint  and  perhaps  foolish  hope  is  that  a  few  forget- 
me-nots  may  be  tricked  into  blooming  on  till  iris 
Mauve  Queen  shows  its  color;  for  of  all  garden 
harmonies  I  dearly  love  the  pale  blues  and  mauves, 
brilliant  blues  and  deep  violets,  set  over  against 
each  other. 

How  charming  were  the  flowers  along  my  little 
brick  walk  about  the  loth  of  May !  Myosotis 
half  in  bloom,  and  the  soft  yellow-green  buds  of 
Yellow  Rose  among  and  above  it;  tulip  Agneta 
only  ranks  of  pointed  buds  back  of  these.  One 
week  later  great  blooms  of  yellow  tulip  (was  ever 
tulip  better  named.'')  were  in  clusters  among  the 
myosotis  while,  above  this  canary  color  and  blue, 
Agneta  lifted  beautiful  lilac  cups.  The  effect  was 
indescribably  gay  and  original.  Leaves  of  Iris 
pallida  Dalmatica  were  now  broadening  back  of 
the  tulips,  spirea  spreading  its  delicately  cut 
green  and  brown-madder  foliage  between  the  iris 
spears,  and  young  peonies  repeated  these  tones 
133 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

of  spirea  leaves  in  a  vigorous  row  farthest  from 
the  walk. 

The  forni  and  habit  of  Yellow  Rose  make  it  a 
tulip  particularly  fit  for  use  with  myosotis,  but 
its  yellow  is  too  strong  in  tone  for  the  lilac  and 
sky-blue  of  the  other  flowers.  Moonlight,  how- 
ever, is  too  near  Agneta  in  height.  Perhaps  Brim- 
stone (Safrano)  would  be  the  better  subject  here, 
but  Brimstone  blooms  earlier  than  Yellow  Rose. 
In  using  Brimstone,  however,  off  should  go  its 
head  so  soon  as  the  rose-pink  flush  begins  to  show, 
since  that  pink  would  doubtless  to  some  extent 
interfere  with  the  effect  of  the  three  pale  colors 
here  desired,  blue,  yellow,  and  lavender.  An- 
other suggestion  is,  as  substitute  for  the  Darwin 
Agneta  the  use  of  the  fine  tulip  Gudin,  certainly 
one  of  the  most  ravishing  of  all  the  Darwin  tribe; 
or  of  William  Copeland  (Sweet  Lavender),  the 
beauty  whose  charming  portrait  was  shown  in 
the  colored  plate  with  the  issue  of  the  "Garden- 
ers' Chronicle"  (EngHsh)  for  November,  1914. 

Brilliant,  telling,  as  these  spring  flowers  were, 
running  from  arch  to  arch  and  seen  against  green 
lawns,  after  ten  days  the  picture  was  yet  sweeter, 
for  the  yellow  tulips'  race  was  run,  the  myosotis 
had  lifted  deHcate  blue-clad  stems  in  air,  and  the 
134 


SPRING  FLOWER  BORDER 

Darwin  pink-lavender  petals  were  atop  of  the 
straightest,  tallest  of  green  shafts,  so  many,  so 
exquisitely  erect,  that  a  memory  of  Velasquez's 
great  canvas  "The  Lances"  flashed  into  the  mind. 
Blue  and  lavender,  delicious  colors  near  each 
other,  made  this  walk  a  place  of  beauty  for  days 
after  the  yellow  tulip  blooms  had  fled. 

As  I  have  said,  this  is  a  beauty  of  lavender, 
deep  yellow,  and  pale  blue  for  perhaps  two  weeks. 
The  early  tulip  first  departs,  leaving  no  void,  for 
the  mauve  and  pale  blue  then  present  a  picture 
interesting  if  more  quiet.  About  the  27th  of  May 
tulip  petals  fall,  leaving  the  myosotis  a  band  of 
misty  blue  on  either  side  the  walk;  and  as  Ag- 
neta  fades  the  deep  blue-purple  Iris  Germanica, 
which  has  for  some  days  held  its  shafts  of  buds 
closed  and  ready  beside  the  Darwins,  suddenly 
bursts  into  great  flowers.  Unfortunately  for  my 
complete  satisfaction,  there  was  one  of  those  mis- 
takes in  the  identity  of  roots  which  must  some- 
times occur  in  gardens,  and  only  a  few  of  these 
proved  of  the  variety  and  the  tone  required  for 
this  setting. 

There  is  for  a  week,  the  first  week  of  June,  a 
lull.  Not,  however,  uninteresting,  for  the  blue- 
greens  of  tulip  leaves  are  still  fresh,  the  iris  swords 
135 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

are  fine  to  see,  and  the  delicately  cut  yellow-green 
of  spirea  foliage  is  charming,  covering  the  earth 
where  irises  have  sprung.  Back  of  these  are  the 
young  peonies  all  filled  with  rounded  buds,  straight, 
handsome,  and  distinct  against  the  smooth-shaven 
grass  beyond  the  border  on  either  side. 

July,  and  the  tardy  spirea  Die  Walkiire  in  this 
border  has  not  flowered  yet.  Brownish  buds  are 
held  above  every  plant  and  soon  there  will  be 
bloom.  Although  there  are  now  no  flowers  along 
the  walk,  the  effect  of  various  types  of  plant  foli- 
age is  exceedingly  good.  Blue-green  leaves  of 
Iris  pallida  Dalmatica  rise  among  all  the  spireas  at 
regular  intervals  —  to  be  exact,  eighteen  irises  on 
either  side;  back  of  these,  away  from  the  walk, 
are  dark-green  peony  leaves ;  toward  the  walk  are 
lines  of  drying  stems  of  English  iris,  pale-gray 
mounds  of  the  hardy  alyssum,  which  I  shall 
have  to  confess  failed  to  do  well  this  year, 
but  which  shall  have  another  invitation  to  this 
spot,  next  time  by  means  of  seed-sowing,  not 
transplanting. 

In  May  zinnias  in  those  pale  tones  I  so  much 

fancy  were  sown  among  the  myosotis  leaves;   by 

mid- July  they  were  opening  their  first  flowers;  and 

from  that  time  on,  the  walk  was  gay  till  late 

136 


SPRING  FLOWER  BORDER 

October,  the  rather  shallow  roots  seeming  not  in 
the  least  to  affect  the  welfare  of  other  subjects 
near  them.  The  illustration  shows  them  in  Sep- 
tember. Back  of  these  borders  of  flowers  since 
this  description  was  written  have  since  been  set 
close  rows  of  Spircea  van  Houtteii,  whose  boughs, 
in  time  to  come,  are  to  be  permitted  to  fall  natu- 
rally on  the  side  away  from  the  walk,  but  to 
be  kept  close-shaven  on  that  toward  the  flower- 
borders  so  that  a  formal  green  background  may 
be  supplied. 

To  leave  the  border  now  for  a  few  generaliza- 
tions on  the  flowers  of  spring  and  early  summer. 
The  blooms  of  tulip  Jubilee  are  of  varying  heights, 
which  gives  this  tulip  a  peculiar  value,  even  as 
the  twisting  of  stem  in  certain  gladioli  makes  them 
more  valuable  for  some  purposes.  Avis  Kenni- 
cott,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  keep  the  yard- 
stick always  in  mind,  and  her  flowers  are  a  regi- 
ment of  golden  magnificence.  Ordinarity,  I  should 
never  place  Avis  Kennicott  near  Jubilee  and  La 
Fiancee,  as  they  are  here;  nor  should  I  allow 
Le  Reve  to  neighbor  these.  The  perfect  place 
for  Le  Reve  is  in  company  with  Mertensia  Virginica 
alone,  as  has  often  been  suggested  before.  Each 
year  this  combination  grows  upon  me. 
137 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

The  effect  of  sunlight  through  the  cups  of  La 
Fiancee  and  Jubilee  as  they  stand  together  up  a 
little  slope  fairly  well  covered  with  young  hem- 
lock spruces,  is  exceedingly  nice.  The  deep  violet 
of  Jubilee  and  rich  lavender-rose  of  La  Fiancee 
make  of  them  excellent  comrades  in  the  border. 
A  drift  of  tall  gold  flowers  stands  farther  up,  and 
beyond  the  group  of  spruces,  which  are  from  three 
to  ten  feet  high,  Heloise  shines  in  the  picture  with 
one  of  the  tallest  and  richest  of  flowers  of  a  fine 
deep-red.  Beyond  Heloise  comes  Herzogin  von 
Hohenberg,  of  a  medium  blue-purple  tone,  a  won- 
derfully valuable  color  in  Darwins,  rising  from 
quantities  of  myosotis;  and  far  up  the  rise  of 
ground  stands  a  group  of  tulip  Couleur  Cardinal. 
Beyond  these  again,  and  to  the  right,  a  whole 
colony  of  Tuli'p  retroflexa  gleams  from  among  the 
dark  gray -green  boughs  of  hemlock  and  of  young 
white  pine.  Two  or  three  years  ago  some  charm- 
ing pictures  in  the  bulb-list  of  Messrs.  E.  H.  Kre- 
lage  and  Sons,  of  Haarlem,  filled  me  with  a  desire 
to  see  tulips  grown  among  evergreens.  The  pic- 
tures from  Holland  showed  this  effectively  done 
for  a  great  flower-show  at  Haarlem,  and  it  seemed 
to  me  that  nothing  could  be  more  lovely,  more 
striking,  too,  in  effect,  than  the  use  of  bulbs 
138 


SPRING  FLOWER  BORDER 

among  small  conifers  of  formal  habit.  The  true 
place  for  daffodils,  as  we  all  know,  is  in  spring 
meadows;  but  tulips  require  a  less  careless  han- 
dling, and,  while  it  is  true  that  I  have  grown  them 
nearly  always  in  loose  groups  and  masses,  I  am 
fast  coming  to  the  belief  that  the  tulip,  from  its 
own  aspect,  calls  for  design  in  planting.  Do  not 
for  a  moment  think  that  I  favor  the  planting 
suggestions  for  tulips  found  in  some  of  the  repre- 
sentative bulb-hsts  of  America  !     Far  from  it ! 

Iris  Crusader  is  a  magnificent  flower.  As 
many  as  four  blooms  are  open  at  one  time,  the 
lowest  a  foot  below  the  topmost;  for  these  flowers 
occur  at  four  places,  four  angles  on  the  stem. 
The  single  flower  is  a  glory,  its  prevailing  tone 
(Ridgway)  a  deep  bluish-violet.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  spring  of  the  long  curves  of  this 
flower  both  in  standard  and  fall  which  gives  it  a 
unique  beauty.  The  brownish  penciUing  at  the 
top  of  each  fall,  the  orange-yellow  beard  which 
surmounts  those  charming  tones  of  blue-violet 
which  suffuse  the  whole,  make  it  a  distinguished 
flower.  It  is  a  knight  among  irises;  and,  bloom 
occurring  just  before  the  pallida  section,  it  seems 
to  herald  a  company  of  nobles  of  the  garden.  No 
flower  could  bear  a  fitter  name  than  does  this  iris; 
139 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

whoever  named  it  had  a  sense  of  fitness  all  too 
rare. 

The  Rembrandt  tulip  has  for  the  last  two  or 
three  seasons  cast  its  spell  upon  me.  "America 
is  biting,"  says  an  English  tulip  authority  in 
words  better  calculated  to  give  pleasure  to  our 
friends,  the  Dutch  growers,  than  to  us !  Yet 
this  is  true:  the  charm  of  the  Rembrandt  is  be- 
ginning to  make  itself  felt  in  the  land.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  of  this  group  is  Bougainville 
Duran,  the  tones  of  whose  markings  are  (Ridgway) 
light  vinaceous-purple  and  neutral  red  —  these 
laid  upon  a  ground  of  delicious  ivory-white.  For 
richness  of  color  and  general  beauty  of  appear- 
ance this  is  the  finest  Rembrandt  I  have  seen. 
Its  use  below  lilacs,  especially  below  a  group  of 
young  low-flowering  bushes,  is  sure  to  give  pleas- 
ure —  before  Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  Souvenir  de 
Ludwig  Spaeth,  those  rich  red-violets  in  lilacs,  and 
those  bluer  ones.  President  Grevy  for  instance. 
Semele  is  another  fine  tulip  in  this  class  —  Ru- 
cellin-purple,  flaked  pomegranate-purple. 

A  planting  of  these  four  tulips  (names  below) 

over  or  back  of  a  low-flowering  plant  such  as  the 

deep-purple  aubrietia,  or  that  new  variety  which 

is  so  warmly  commended.  Lavender,  might  make 

140 


SPRING    FLOWER    BORDER 

a  good  spring  picture,  the  tulips  to  be  Reverend 
H.  Ewbank,  Bleu  Celeste,  Morales,  and  a  very 
few  white  ones,  such  as  Innocence  or  La  Candeur. 
Another  plan  is  to  plant  well  in  front  of  that 
grand  tulip  Flava  the  beautiful  lavender  Scilla 
campanulata  Excelsior;  and  between  this  and  the 
tulip  the  wonderful  mauve  iris  of  about  fifteen 
inches'  height,  Mrs.  Alan  Gray.  There  would  be 
a  sight  whose  loveliness  the  "scant  gray  meshes 
of  words"  could  never  catch  and  show.  A  fine 
delicacy  of  effect  this  —  palest  primrose  tulip, 
blue-lavender  scilla,  and  pinkish  lavender  in  the 
iris  blooms. 

A  wondrous  new  all-yellow  iris  in  the  Germanica 
tribe,  named  by  its  originator  for  Miss  C.  P.  Sher- 
win,  is  treasure-trove  for  the  June  garden.  Aqui- 
Icgia  chrysantha  in  connection  w^ith  this  iris,  or 
groups  of  the  latter  planted  below  the  perfect 
sprays  of  that  perfect  rose  known  as  spinosissima, 
or,  for  a  livelier  picture,  the  new  iris  before  the 
vivid  blue  of  the  anchusa  —  beauty  could  not  fail 
the  gardener  here. 

The  "  hly-flowered  "  tulips  just  announced  from 
Holland  and  never  yet  shown  in  America  will  cre- 
ate great  interest  here.  Sirene,  Adonis,  Argo,  mar- 
vellous tones  of  satiny  rose,  rich  rose,  golden  yel- 
141 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

low,  salmon-rose,  all  with  the  reflexed  petals  and 
tall  habit  of  Tulipa  retroflexa,  will  be  welcomed 
with  enthusiasm  if  they  prove  as  beautiful  as  their 
just-named  parent. 


142 


XI 


NOTES    ON    SOME    OF    THE 
NEWER    GLADIOLI 


"In  summer  a  strew  of  fresh  rushes,  mint,  and  gladiolus 
(that  flower  so  dear  to  mediaeval  eyes)  covered  the  pave- 
ment with  a  cool  fragrance,  while  a  bough  of  some  green 
tree  or  flowering  bush  filled  the  hearth." 

— (From  chapter  The  Mediaeval  Country-House), 
"The  Fields  of  France,"  Madame  Mary  Duclaux. 


XI 

NOTES    ON    SOME    OF    THE 
NEWER    GLADIOLI 

IT  is  November  and  all  tuberous  things,  all  ten- 
der bulbs,  have  been  "safely  garnered  in,  ere 
the  winter  storms  begin."  Dahlias  are  in  their 
sandy  nests ;  gladioli  repose  in  labelled  paper  bags ; 
tritomas,  Galtonias  are  in  dry,  cool  spots  for  winter 
safety. 

As  we  work  under  leafless  trees  and  where  noth- 
ing of  green  remains  save  the  bright  grass  and  the 
rich  hues  of  pine  and  hemlock,  the  colors  impris- 
oned within  each  bulb  are  sure  to  rise  before  me. 
I  see  again  the  rainbow  of  that  wonderful  exhibit 
of  gladiolus  as  it  was  to  be  seen  in  Chicago  last 
August;  the  matchless  beauty  of  such  blooms  as 
Niagara  and  Panama.  And  I  here  set  down  a 
few  notes  on  the  gladiolus  made  last  summer,  both 
at  home  and  away  from  it. 

And  first  let  me  say  that  the  best  recent  hap- 
pening for  the  lover  of  this  flower,  and  conse- 
quently, of  course,  the  best  thing  for  the  grower 
145 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

of  gladiolus  in  this  country,  was  the  formation  of 
the  American  Gladiolus  Society.  To  all  who  take 
serious  interest  in  this  flower,  I  would  recom- 
mend the  small  monthly  publication,  "The  Mod- 
ern Gladiolus  Grower,"  published  at  Calcium, 
New  York,  by  Mr.  Madison  Cooper,  himself  an 
amateur;  this  paper  is  the  organ  of  the  American 
Gladiolus  Society,  and  a  very  fountainhead  of 
expert  information  in  all  matters  relating  to 
gladioli. 

Gladiolus  Badenia,  described  in  the  first  edition 
of  this  book,  much  grown  for  some  years  and  con- 
sidered very  fine,  proved  a  failure,  and  for  sub- 
stitutes in  pure  lavender  there  are  really  none. 
Louise,  a  much-praised  lavender,  has  to  me  a 
rather  muddy  look;  Herada,  however,  a  very 
beautiful  mauve,  might  be  named  as  related  to 
the  pale  violets,  delightful  of  course  when  com- 
panioned in  the  garden  by  the  deep-purple  pe- 
tunia, the  cool-pink  annual  aster.  One  might 
grow  Herada  with  palest  yellow  snapdragon;  or, 
a  more  subtle  arrangement  yet,  plan  to  have  it 
late  against  Salvia  azurea,  the  junction  of  its 
stems  with  the  ground  masked  by  rippling  mounds 
of  Phlox  drummondii  lutea.  All  pale  yellows  and 
buffs,  all  rich  purples,  all  blues  [which  are  almost 
146 


THE    NEWER    GLADIOLI 

turquoise,  rise  to  the  mind  as  one  thinks  of  the 
delicious  pictures  obtainable  by  combining  such 
colors  with  either  Herada  or  Rosella,  the  last  de- 
scribed a  few  pages  farther  on.  Orange  Glory  is 
another  great  beauty,  not  large,  but  wide,  frilled, 
and  in  color  Ridgway's  salmon  pink.  This  gladi- 
olus gives  one  an  actual  shock  of  pleasure.  It 
shines  out  from  every  group  of  its  kind.  It  glows 
with  bright  color. 

Now  for  the  glorious  pair  Niagara  and  Panama. 
Niagara  shall  have  the  first  word.  Niagara  is 
quite  worthy  of  several  descriptions.  I  therefore 
give  first  its  commercial  one,  prefacing  that  by 
the  fact  that  it  has  already  secured  three  honors 
from  horticultural  societies,  including  one  from  the 
American  Gladiolus  Society.  "In  type,"  says  its 
originator,  "the  variety  resembles  America,  but 
the  flowers  appear  to  be  somewhat  larger,  measur- 
ing four  and  one-half  inches  across.  In  color  the 
flowers  are  a  delightful  cream  shade,  with  the  two 
lower  inside  petals  or  segments  blending  to  ca- 
nary-yellow. The  flower  spike  is  very  erect  and 
stout  and  is  wrapped  with  broad  dark-green 
foliage." 

Now,  to  be  exact  in  my  own  color  description 
of  this  flower,  Niagara  is  of  the  tone  known  as 
147 


pjtorarrr  ubkaxt 
N.  C.  Statt  Colk9» 

THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Naples  yellow  (color  chart,  Jaune  de  Naples  No.  2). 
Deep  in  its  throat  are  lines  of  faintest  lilac  (color 
chart,  Rose  lilace  No.  4).  These,  however,  do  not 
in  the  least  interfere  with  the  general  effect  of 
palest  yellow  or  cream  given  by  the  whole  fine 
flower. 

Two  combinations  of  Niagara  with  other  flow- 
ers flew  to  my  mind,  as  I  held  this  beauty  in  my 
hand.  Phlox  E.  Danzanvilliers  back  of  it,  agera- 
tum  Stella  Gurney  below  and  in  front.  The  phlox 
can  be  made  to  hold  its  bloom  for  some  time  — 
the  ageratum,  as  we  know,  is  incessant.  Again, 
nothing  lovelier,  thought  I,  than  Niagara  with 
salpiglossis  of  that  dark  velvety  mahogany  known 
as  Faust;  or  below  phlox  Von  Hochberg.  The 
color  at  the  base  of  the  gladiolus,  slight  though 
it  is,  is  very  little  lighter  than  the  wine-purple  of 
this  phlox  itself.  Lovely,  too,  should  Niagara  be 
with  all-lavender  hardy  asters,  especially  with 
that  of  the  barren  name  of  James  Ganly. 

Panama,  a  sister  of  Niagara,  was  the  third  cap- 
tivator  of  the  gladiolus  show.  I  here  declare, 
speaking  with  all  possible  calmness,  that  it  is  the 
softest  and  most  charming  tone  of  pronounced 
rose-pink  I  have  ever  noticed  in  a  flower.  It 
makes  one  think  of  roses,  of  the  best  roses,  par- 
148 


THE    NEWER    GLADIOLI 

ticularly  of  Mrs.  John  Laing,  and  while  I  have 
never  fancied  the  idea  which  obtains  here  and  there 
of  growing  gladioh  among  roses,  because  of  the 
leggy  look  of  both  roses  and  gladioli  at  their  best, 
yet,  if  it  must  be  done,  Panama  is  the  flower  to 
place  in  our  rose-beds !  The  pink  of  Panama  is 
that  called  mauve-rose  (color  chart,  Rose  malvace 
No.  2).  Almost  invisible  markings  there  are, 
deep  in  its  throat,  of  purple-carmine  (Carmin 
pourpre  No.  2).  A  setting  of  lyme  grass,  Elymus 
arenarius,  is  suggested,  with  perhaps,  near  by,  a 
few  blooms  of  the  new  decussata  phlox  of  luscious 
pink,  Ehzabeth  Campbell.  While  the  phlox  is 
lighter  in  tone  than  the  gladiolus,  the  pinks  are 
of  precisely  the  same  type,  for  I  have  compared 
the  living  flowers.  Verbena  Dolores  might  fur- 
nish the  base  of  this  planting  to  charming  ad- 
vantage. 

With  the  older  gladioli.  Peace,  Dawn,  and 
Afterglow,  we  have  a  sextet  of  what  seemed  to 
me  the  most  beautiful  of  the  newer  gladioli, 
America  excepted,  but  America  is  now  established. 
It  will  be  noticed,  too,  that  I  am  far  too  modest 
to  describe  my  own  beautiful  namesake,  but  I  own 
to  such  a  prejudice  in  favor  of  this  flower  and  its 
brilliant  and  unmatchable  flame-pink,  that  I  could 
149 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

not  under  the  circumstances  write  dispassionately 
of  it. 

The  above-mentioned  sextet,  then,  I  would 
say,  comprises  several  of  the  newer  varieties  of 
gladiolus  whose  interesting  color  and  fine  form 
fit  them  particularly  for  garden  groupings  of  orig- 
inahty  and  charm.  Of  other  fine  varieties  I  shall 
presently  speak,  but  these  are  really  marvellous 
for  beauty.  One  has  but  to  see  them  to  feel  ideas 
for  placing  them,  flocking  softly  to  one's  brain. 
Next  year,  oh,  next  year! 

It  is  impossible  to  overpraise  the  cool  elegance  of 
gladiolus  Peace.  Its  flowers  are  milky-white  (color 
chart,  Blanc  de  lait  No.  1)  with  well-defined  nar- 
row stripes  on  the  lower  petals,  far  back  in  the 
throat,  of  rosy  magenta  (color  chart.  Magenta 
rougeatre  No.  1).  The  variety  is  said  to  be  un- 
surpassed for  cutting,  as  the  flowers  keep  well  in 
water,  and  buds  will  open  the  entire  length  of  the 
spike.  Peace  is  surely  the  noblest  white  gladiolus. 
Its  large  flower,  the  slender  violet  markings  so  well 
within  the  throat  that  there  is  hardly  an  effect  of 
color,  gives  one  the  impression  of  a  pure  white  spike 
of  bloom  which  had  once  looked  upon  an  evening 
sky. 

Two  gladioli  with  charmingly  suggestive  names 
150 


THE    NEWER    GLADIOLI 

are  Dawn  and  Afterglow.  Dawn,  the  lovely  and 
poetic  both  in  name  and  in  look,  has  for  its  gen- 
eral color  salmon -carmine  (color  chart,  Carmin 
saumone  No.  1).  In  my  own  tongue  I  should 
call  this  flower  suffused  with  delicate  coral-pink 
—  the  buds  like  the  palest  coral  from  Naples  — 
these  buds,  too,  gracefully  drooping  with  a  large 
softness  peculiarly  their  own.  Dawn  —  what  sug- 
gestion in  the  name !  Dawn  rising  among  well- 
estabhshed  groups  of  the  Japanese  anemones 
Whirlwind  or  Beaute  Parfaite;  Dawn  with  the 
salmon-pink  geranium  Beaute  Poitevine;  Dawn 
in  conjunction  with  Niagara  —  all  these  are  sure 
to  prove  arrangements  to  charm  one's  eye  in  mid- 
summer. There  is  a  salmon-pink  balsam  above 
which  Dawn  might  be  enchanting.  Afterglow 
greatly  caught  my  fancy.  In  general  tone  it  is  a 
flesh-pink  (color  chart.  Rose  carne  No.  4),  with 
throat  markings,  very  apparent,  lilac-purple  (chart, 
Fuchsine  No.  4).  A  rich  salmon  of  generally  the 
same  tone  in  all  its  flowers  would  be  my  own 
description  of  it. 

Taconic  I  had  opportunity  to  observe  closely 

last  August;  its  general  color  is  mauve-rose  (Rose 

malvace  No.  2),  though  the  flakes  of  white  very 

finely  distributed  over  the  prevailing  tone  make 

151 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

it  dijQBcult  to  exactly  place  the  color.  Its  mark- 
ings are  of  carmine-purple  (Pourpre  carmine  No. 
3),  slim,  narrow  lines.  The  effect  of  the  flower 
was  of  a  beautiful  warm  pink  flaked  and  feath- 
ered with  white,  as  in  a  Breeder  tulip;  the  mark- 
ings, however,  much  more  delicate. 

Philadelphia  and  Evolution  come  next  to  mind; 
the  former  in  color  mauve-rose  (chart,  Rose  mal- 
vace  No.  1),  clear  pale  rose-pink  tone,  fine  form, 
a  wide,  large  flower  with  sharp,  narrow  markings 
in  the  throat,  of  carmine-purple  (chart,  Pourpre 
carmine  No.  3).  Evolution's  prevaihng  tone  is 
mauve-rose  (chart.  Rose  malvace  No.  1,  flaked 
with  No.  4  on  the  same  plate,  and  with  dark  old- 
rose — chart,  Rose  brule  No.  3).  The  anthers  of 
this  pair  of  lovely  gladioli,  with  their  pale-pink 
tones  —  the  anthers  are  of  the  shade  called  bluish 
lilac  (Lilas  bleuatre  No.  1)  —  give  genuine  distinc- 
tion to  these  flowers. 

Gladiolus  Rosella  is  a  lovely  thing.  In  its 
main  tone  carmine-purple  (chart,  Pourpre  car- 
mine No.  1,  with  its  throat  markings  No.  3  on 
the  same  plate),  the  effect  is  of  a  huge  flower  of 
rich  orchid-like  pink,  very  beautiful,  a  very  open, 
spreading  flower.  Rosella  above  ageratum  Stella 
Gurney  cannot  fail  to  be  a  success  in  color  plant- 
152 


THE    NEWER    GLADIOLI 

ings;  Rosella  below  Salvia  azurea,  with  the  an- 
nual pink  mallow  near  by;  and,  last,  Rosella  with 
Baron  Hulot,  that  small-flowered  but  ever-needed 
gladiolus  of  the  color  known  as  bishop's  violet 
(chart,  Violet  eveque  No.  4).  I  am  myself  minded 
to  grow  Baron  Hulot  in  the  midst  of  ageratum 
Stella  Gurney  —  precisely  as  one  lets  a  colony  of 
tulips  appear  above  forget-me-not;  and  Baron 
Hulot  would  be  also  most  perfect  among  the  fine 
creamy  flowers  of  chrysanthemum  Garza. 

With  a  few  very  short  descriptions  I  have  done. 
Senator  Volland  is  an  interesting  flower,  the  gen- 
eral tone  of  its  petals  bright  violet  (chart,  Violet 
de  campanule  No.  1).  Blotches  of  amaranth 
(chart,  Amarante  No.  4),  with  yellow-white  spaces 
below  these,  occur  on  the  inferior  petals,  with  a 
lovely  mottling  of  the  amaranth  on  these  lower 
petals  as  well.  "Bright  violet"  does  not  describe 
the  color  of  this  flower  to  me  as  well  as  pale 
cool  lavender,  with  richer  lavender  or  purple  on 
the  throat,  flakes  of  a  true  cream  color  upon  the 
purple.  Canary-bird,  with  its  clear  light  yellow 
(no  visible  markings  of  any  other  color),  is  most 
charming  in  combination  with  Senator  Volland. 
And  the  Senator  again  might  stand  to  great  ad- 
vantage before  tall  groups  of  Physostegia  Virginica, 
153 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

var.  rosea,  the  soft  rosy  false  dragon's-head.  The 
color  of  Canary-bird  on  the  chart  is  sulphur-yel- 
low (Jaune  soufre  No.  1). 

Isaac  Buchanan  may  not  be  a  new  gladiolus 
but  it  was  new  to  me  —  a  lemon-flaked  soft  pink, 
the  flakes  giving  a  charming  effect.  The  flower 
is  not  large,  but  rare  in  color,  and  above  Phlox 
Drummondii,  var.  lutea,  an  interesting  effect  should 
be  got.  Snowbird  is  a  lovely  white  with  pinkish- 
violet  slender  markings  in  the  throat;  La  Luna, 
a  soft  creamy  white  with  a  very  clearly  defined 
marking  of  richest  Pompeiian  red  on  the  throat; 
California,  a  pinkish  lavender  gladiolus,  is  an  ex- 
cellent color  for  use  with  America;  Princess  Al- 
tiere,  a  very  large  pure  white  with  royal-purple 
markings  on  the  lower  petals;  and  Independence, 
a  magnificent  salmon-pink,  very  light  in  tone,  re- 
minding me  in  a  general  way  of  the  fine  old  Wil- 
liam Falconer,  but  far  and  away  better  in  type  — 
every  gladiolus  named  here  is  to  me  worth  getting 
and  growing. 

I  emphatically  advise  the  buying  of  small  quan- 
tities of  these  bulbs  as  a  starter,  as  one  would 
with  fine  tulips;  the  careful  labelling,  staking, 
comparing  with  other  flowers  differing  in  form, 
color,  and  habit  but  blooming  simultaneously;  and, 
154 


THE    NEWER    GLADIOLI 

most  necessary  of  all,  the  note-making  in  one's 
little  book  —  that  httle  book  which  should  never 
be  in  the  house  when  the  gardener  is  in  the  garden  ! 
I  was  greatly  interested  to  learn  that  florists  pre- 
fer for  cutting  in  some  cases,  the  gladiolus  whose 
stems  are  allowed  to  bend  and  twist  as  they 
bloom.  A  hint  of  this  kind  may  be  valuable  for 
some  of  us  who  grow  this  superb  flower  mainly 
to  put  about  our  houses.  It  is  easy  to  see  the 
agreeable  variety  of  line  afforded  for  such  purposes 
by  the  gladiolus  which  has  not  been  strictly 
staked. 

On  going  over  what  has  been  said,  I  marvel  at 
my  attempt  to  write  on  the  glories  of  this  special 
flower.  I  have,  in  the  first  place,  left  out  so  many 
beauties,  such  for  instance  as  Sulphur  King,  Mrs. 
Frank  Pendleton,  Jr.  (bright  rose-pink,  a  little 
deeper  toward  centre  of  the  flower,  the  lower 
petals  blotched  with  carmine  —  so  remarkable 
that  a  connoisseur  writes  of  it:  "Mrs.  Pendleton 
is  in  bloom,  has  a  five-foot  stalk  with  twenty 
flowers  and  a  smaller  offshoot  with  twelve;  it  is 
simply  magnificent"),  William  Falconer,  America, 
Kunderd's  Glory  —  there  are  dozens  which  should 
come  into  any  writing  in  connection  with  this 
flower.  No  flower  of  the  garden  proves  more  irre- 
155 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

sistible  to  me  than  this.  Its  lovely  perpendicular 
line  first,  lilylike,  irislike;  then  its  truly  pris- 
matic range  of  exquisite  color.  No  wonder  that 
hybridizers  in  Holland,  France,  Germany,  Great 
Britain,  and  this  country  have  been  earnestly 
working  now  for  years  upon  so  beautiful  a  sub- 
ject, or  that  amateur  hybridizers  are  beginning 
to  crop  out  in  our  own  land. 

The  cultivation  of  the  gladiolus  is  so  exceed- 
ingly simple;  the  results  so  wonderfully  reward- 
ing; the  color  effects  so  certain  of  accomplish- 
ment with  flowers  which  come  as  true  to  type 
and  color  as  these;  there  is  everything  to  praise 
in  this  flower,  no  check  to  the  imagination  when 
forming  one's  summer  plans  with  lists  of  it  by 
one's  side.  Gardens  of  enchantment  might  easily 
be  created  by  the  careful  use  of  two  annuals  such 
as  dark  heliotrope,  ageratum  Stella  Gurney,  and 
the  lavender,  cool,  pink,  and  palest-yellow  gladi- 
olus, mentioned  in  these  pages.  A  mistake  of 
judgment  would  be  almost  impossible  with  these 
materials  in  hand. 


156 


XII 
MIDSUMMER    POMPS 


'Soon  will  the  high  Midsummer  pomps  come  on. 
Soon  will  the  musk  carnations  break  and  swell, 
Soon  shall  we  have  gold-dusted  snapdragon, 
Sweet-William  with  his  homely  cottage  smell. 
And  stocks  in  fragrant  blow; 
Roses  that  down  the  alleys  shine  afar. 
And  open,  jasmine-mufl3ed  lattices. 
And  groups  under  the  dreaming  garden-trees, 
And  the  full  moon,  and  the  white  evening  star." 
—  IVIatthew  Aknold. 


XII 
MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

AS  I  sat  in  my  garden  one  fine  evening  in  late  June 
^  of  the  year  just  gone,  my  eye  wandered  over 
near-by  heads  of  pale-pink  peonies,  and  beyond 
other  white  ones,  to  a  distant  corner  where  a  rather 
unusual  color  effect  had  appeared.  At  the  back 
of  this  flower  group  was  a  tall  dark-blue  del- 
phinium, name  unknown;  to  the  right  stood  the 
charming  one  La  France,  its  round  flowerets  set 
thickly  and  evenly  up  the  stem,  their  general 
tone  a  pale  pinkish-mauve.  Directly  below  La 
France  the  fingered  stems  of  the  lovely  perennial 
foxglove.  Digitalis  ambigua,  were  to  be  seen.  Be- 
side the  buff  foxglove  masses  of  the  purple-blue 
Campanula  persicifoliay  erect  and  delicate,  had 
place,  and  the  foremost  flowers  of  the  group  were 
gay  single  pyrethrums,  with  a  high  hght  in  the 
presence  of  a  few  of  the  common  white  daisies. 
In  the  warm  evening  light  the  flowers  seemed  to 
take  on  a  new  aspect.  The  blue  of  the  tall  lark- 
spur spires  had  acquired  a  translucent  quahty; 
159 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

the  little  Annchen  Mueller  roses  set  thick  against 
opening  gypsophila  glowed  like  rubies;  the  great 
white  peonies  flushed  in  the  setting  sun  till  one 
might  fancy  that  Festiva  maxima  had  magically 
become  that  beauty  of  beauties  in  peonies,  Ma- 
dame Emile  Galle. 

A  few  particularly  fine  delphiniums  have  this 
year  attained  special  perfection  in  the  garden,  in 
better  shades  of  light  blue  than  any  before  seen 
here,  except  perhaps  for  the  blue  of  the  old  fa- 
vorite Cantab  and  the  fine  Madame  Violet  Geslin 
which  a  year  ago  was  a  revelation.  La  France, 
elsewhere  described,  gave  great  delight.  Kelway's 
Lovely  was  remarkable  for  its  overlaid  petals  of 
palest  blue  and  palest  lavender.  The  beauteous 
Persimmon,  too,  was  there;  its  color  so  truly 
sky-blue  that  when  a  flower  was  held  against  the 
heavenly  canopy  of  a  fine  summer's  day,  it  seemed 
to  disappear,  to  melt  into  its  own  hue.  One 
could  wish  that  handsome  spring-blooming  thing, 
muscari  Heavenly  Blue,  relieved  of  its  present 
ill-fitting  name  and  the  pretty  title  bestowed  in- 
stead upon  delphinium  Persimmon.  This  it  in 
very  truth  describes. 

One  of  those  discerning  friends  who  send  de- 
tails of  flowers  seen  afar  off,  wrote  from  England 
160 


DELPHINIUM   LA   FRANCE,    CAMPANULA    PERSICIFOLIA.    DIGITALIS 
AMBIGUA   AND    PYRETHRUM 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

the  first  news  of  the  two  delphiniums  shown  facing 
page  164;  these  were  prize-winning  flowers  at 
the  Holland  House  show  of  1913,  and  first  shown 
in  1908.  On  the  left  is  a  marvellous  spike  of 
palest  sky-blue  and  lavender  Statuaire  Rude. 
The  enormous  size  of  the  flowerets  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  range  themselves  loosely  up  the 
stem,  joined  to  a  rare  beauty  in  soft  color  tones, 
give  this  delphinium  a  peculiar  distinction.  In 
the  Alake,  at  the  right  of  illustration,  petals  of  the 
richest  blue  are  overlaid  by  others  of  richest  vio- 
let, affording  an  effect  entirely  unique  and  entirely 
sumptuous:  delightful  to  record,  the  flower  is 
named  for  an  Indian  potentate !  The  celebrated 
"what"  that's  in  a  name  never  troubles  me  so 
much  as  in  this  matter  of  flower  nomenclature. 
Most  women  gardeners  who  are  readers,  too,  are 
sensitive  to  the  fitness  of  flower  names.  I  have 
been  ever  averse  to  the  naming  of  flowers  for  in- 
dividuals, unless  the  individual  so  honored  shall 
have  rendered  some  service  to  horticulture.  In 
the  terminations  "Willmotti,"  *'Sargentii,"  and 
other  such,  w^e  rejoice;  similarly  in  "nigella  Miss 
Jekyll,"  "peony  Baroness  Schroeder";  these  bring 
most  properly  and  with  a  certain  mental  stimulus 
to  our  recollection  those  whose  gardens,  whose 
161 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

scientific  knowledge,  or  whose  writings  have  been 
of  world-wide  value  to  the  gardening  public. 

Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  has  a  nice  paragraph  on  rose 
names:  "Most  often  it  happens  that  the  name  is 
ugly.  ...  A  rose  should  have  a  name  as  im- 
mortal as  itself.  The  Earl  of  Penzance  knew  this 
when  he  called  his  sweetbriars  after  Scott's  hero- 
ines. Shakespeare,  so  far  as  England  is  con- 
cerned, might  give  names  to  all  our  new  roses." 

Do  seedsmen  name  flowers  for  good  customers  ? 
I  mightily  fear  it !  Names,  to  be  perfection, 
should  first  carry  some  descriptive  quality,  and 
next  they  should  be  words  of  beauty.  Many  ex- 
amples might  be  given:  Dawn,  most  aptly  fit  for 
the  lovely  pale-pink  gladiolus  which  it  adorns; 
Capri  (a  name,  of  course,  to  conjure  with),  a  true 
felicity  as  a  name  for  a  delphinium  of  a  ravishing 
tone  of  sky-blue;  Eyebright,  for  that  wondrous 
daffodil  with  scarlet  centre;  Lady  Gay,  the  hap- 
piest hit  in  names  for  that  sweet  little  rose  which 
will  dance  anywhere  in  the  sun  and  wind  of  June. 

A  sight  most  lovely  is,  of  a  summer's  evening, 
to  see  Delphinium  Moerheimi  lifting  its  white  spires 
of  flowers  against  a  green  background  of  shrub- 
bery with  a  blue  mist  of  sea-holly  below  it,  and 
in  the  foreground,  rising  from  gypsophila  masses, 
162 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

other  spires  of  richest  rose-pink  hollyhock.  White 
and  lavender  phloxes  in  the  middle  distance  add 
to  the  charm  of  this  picture.  Tapis  Blanc,  and 
Antonin  Mercie,  and  the  little  dark  balls  of  box- 
trees,  and  the  blooming  standard  Conrad  F.  Meyer 
roses  with  their  formal  flavor,  are  agreeable  acces- 
sories, really  enhancing  the  beauty  of  the  freer 
flower  masses. 

As  each  summer  appears  and  waxes,  I  think  I 
have  found  the  companion  for  sea-holly.  One  year 
it  was  phlox  Coquelicot  or  its  brilliant  brother 
R.  P.  Struthers;  another  year  phlox  Pantheon 
was  my  favorite  for  the  honor;  while  last  year  I 
was  entirely  captivated  by  the  effect  of  the  an- 
nual Statice  bonduelli,  primrose  or  canary-yellow, 
with  the  blue-gray  eryngium.  But  this  season  a 
large  group  of  the  sea-hollies  chanced  to  bloom 
beside  another  group  of  pentstemon,  and  a  happy 
alliance  it  was,  quite  the  happiest  of  all.  The 
brilliant  color  of  the  pentstemon,  Pentstemon  bar- 
batus  Torreyii,  found  its  perfect  concomitant  in  the 
cloudy  blues  of  the  eryngium,  and  the  two  to- 
gether formed  a  satisfying  spectacle.  This  pent- 
stemon, not  one  of  the  newer  hybrids,  I  also 
liked  for  use  in  the  house,  especially  when  rising 
from  bowlfuls  of  the  creamy  heads  of  Hydrangea 
163 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

arhorescens;  the  effect,  a  severe  contrast,  was  good. 
The  pentstemon  is  a  trifle  too  near  scarlet  to  be 
welcome  in  my  garden  —  it  must  remain  without 
the  gate;  but  in  gayer  gardens  than  mine  it  should 
always  have  place.  Lovely  it  would  surely  be 
above  mounds  of  cream- white  zinnias  in  full  bloom 
with  a  sweet  pea  like  Barbara  rising  back  of  the 
pentstemon. 

Sea-holly !  I  could  sing  its  praises  for  pages ! 
Sea-holly  has  never  seemed  to  me  to  find  its  per- 
fect companion  for  cutting  until,  in  the  trial  gar- 
den, acquaintance  was  luckily  made  with  the  an- 
nual Statice  sinuata  bonduelli.  Statice  incana  has 
here  been  known  and  loved;  Statice  latifolia,  that 
beautiful  violet  statice  which  ladies  buy  on  Edin- 
burgh streets;  but  Statice  bonduelli,  with  its  deli- 
cate yellow  blooms,  became  in  a  day  a  prime  favor- 
ite. The  loveliness  of  its  foot-high  branching  stems 
covered  with  tiny  canary-yellow  flowers,  when 
cut  and  held  against  the  bluish  sea-holly,  can 
hardly  be  imagined.  Gypsophila  paniculata,  the 
double  variety,  is  good  with  the  two,  but  possibly 
the  pair  are  best  alone.  For  out-of-door  effect 
the  statice  should  not  be  overlooked;  though  its 
stems  are  rather  sparse,  its  leaves  entirely  basal, 
it  is  nevertheless  a  treasure,  and  a  charming  result 
164 


'"V   f 


r    ,^' 


DELPHINIUMS  THE  ALAKE  AND  STATUAIRE  RUDE 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

occurs  when  the  later  mauve  variety  blooms,  with 
many  heads  of  a  new  pale-yellow  centaurea  gently 
forcing  their  way  to  the  sun  through  the  tiny 
lavender  statice  blossoms. 

Gladiolus  primulinus  hybrids  are  a  delight  to 
the  "garden  soul."  Exquisite  soft  tones  of  pale 
yellow  with  now  and  again  some  spikes  of  a  pale 
flame-pink,  they  are  most  lovely  as  they  grow, 
while  for  cutting,  used  with  Statice  honduelli  and 
the  double  gypsophila,  nothing  could  be  more 
attractive.  Add  to  your  arrangement  of  these 
flowers  a  cluster  of  that  enchanting  sweet  pea, 
Sterling  Stent,  you  shall  rejoice  in  what  you  have 
created.  Sterling  Stent!  I  betray  a  valuable 
gardening  secret  when  I  tell  of  him.  His  color, 
according  to  the  French  chart,  is  Laque  de  Ga- 
rance  from  1  to  4  with  occasional  tones  of  Rouge 
peche  4.  Beautiful  beyond  description  is  he,  and 
he  fadeth  not  in  sun ! 

And  now  a  word  concerning  a  certain  double 
rose-colored  annual  poppy,  a  poppy  which  has 
become  a  rose-pink  essential  to  this  garden.  One 
of  Sutton's  hollyhocks,  a  double  pink  of  the  exact 
tone  of  these  poppies  (chart,  all  shades  of  Rose 
Nilsson),  has  made  a  picture  here  and  there,  lifting 
its  tall  stems  set  with  rich  pink  bosses  of  rosy 
165 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

petals  above  the  rounding  gypsophilas  in  whose 
lacy  masses  some  poppies  softly  bloom.  So  like 
are  the  poppies  to  the  individual  hollyhock  flowers 
that  it  is  as  if  some  of  the  former  had  whimsically 
decided  to  grow  along  a  hollyhock  stalk.  If  one 
were  to  try  for  this  effect,  a  new  gladiolus,  Display, 
should  be  freely  used  within  the  range  of  vision 
here;  and  the  beauteous  sea-holly  would  again 
prove  its  high  garden  value  if  groups  should  be 
set  in  this  picture.  Among  the  pink  poppies  I 
very  much  fancy  the  white  platycodon,  P.  grandi- 
florum  album;  the  pearly  tone  of  these  flowers 
charming  with  the  gay  poppy-blooms,  and  the 
platycodon's  smooth  pointed  cups  affording  an 
interesting  contrast  to  the  other's  soft  fulness  of 
fringed  silk.  Gladiolus  Display  among  sea-holly 
could  not  but  be  excellently  effective.  It  is  a 
gladiolus  of  rare  beauty. 

Let  us  not  pass  by  the  Oriental  poppy  in  our 
consideration  of  the  flowers  of  the  poppy  tribe. 
In  the  latitude  of  Boston  the  fresh  pale-green 
tufts  of  the  former  may  be  discovered  in  early 
April,  a  heartening  and  lovely  sight  as  the  last 
snows  of  winter  are  vanishing  before  the  spring 
sun.  These  have  formed  in  the  previous  autumn, 
but  this  perennial  has  a  constitution  to  withstand 
166 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

the  severest  of  winters.  Here  is  a  flower  which 
does  well  in  any  good  garden  soil,  though  sunlight 
is  its  prime  necessity.  Equally  vital  to  its  well- 
doing is  its  transplanting  when  dormant  in  August 
or  September,  or  so  I  used  to  think.  I  know  now, 
after  some  experimenting,  that  the  Oriental  poppy 
can  be  safely  moved  in  spring  as  well. 

Until  two  years  ago,  when  some  of  the  varieties 
of  this  flower  of  recent  introduction  were  revealed 
to  me,  I  was  ignorant  of  the  development  of  the 
flower. 

"Then  felt  I  like  some  watcher  of  the  skies 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken." 

Princess  Victoria  Louise,  the  huge  bloom  of  a 
delicious  rosy-salmon  hue,  was  a  sensation.  One 
who  enjoys  the  delicate  suggestion  of  thin  flame 
should  stand  before  this  flower  transported  with 
delight.  And  now  the  list  of  Bertrand  H.  Farr, 
of  Wyomissing,  Pennsylvania,  gives  us  no  less 
than  thirty  varieties  of  Oriental  poppies  in  only 
five  of  which  the  word  "scarlet"  enters  into  the 
descriptions.  All  the  rest  verge  upon  the  salmon, 
apricot,  amaranth,  and  deep-mulberry  shades.  The 
lighter  colors  of  these  newer  poppies  are,  as  has 
been  suggested,  very  like  those  of  the  Shirley 
poppy,  and  how  remarkable  to  find  in  the  larger, 
167 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

stronger,  and  more  enduring  flowers  the  charming 
color  characteristics  of  that  poppy,  whose  one 
defect  is  its  ephemeral  quality! 

From  a  color-plate  in  the  list  of  the  plantsman 
just  mentioned  a  very  beautiful  combination  of 
poppies  should  be  got  by  using  the  rich  amaranth 
Mahony,  described  as  "deep  mahogany-maroon," 
but  which  I  should  call  a  blackish  mulberry,  with 
Rose  Queen,  a  fine  satiny  rose-pink.  The  revolu- 
tion in  color  in  these  poppies  transforms  them  at 
once  into  subjects  of  the  greatest  interest  for  the 
formal  or  informal  garden,  the  garden  which  pre- 
cludes the  use  of  scarlet,  orange,  or  any  deep 
yellow.  The  rich  darkness  of  Mahony  would  be 
a  heavenly  sight  with  the  Dropmore  anchusa  ris- 
ing back  of  it,  but  for  real  nobility  of  effect  the 
two  should  be  used  alone. 

Some  plants  seem  a  bit  dull  in  their  beginnings; 
not  so  with  this,  for  from  the  first  the  lovely  form 
and  curve  of  each  leaf  is  apparent,  aside  from  the 
fresh  yellow-green  of  the  leaf -group.  To  fill  the 
wide  spaces  of  earth  which  should  occur  between 
plants  destined  for  so  rapid  and  so  large  a  growth, 
tulips  are  suggested;  to  follow  the  poppy  bloom 
and  act  again  as  a  ground  cover,  seed  of  salpi- 
glossis  sown  early,  or  of  tall  marigold,  whose  foli- 
168 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

age  and  bloom  will  in  August  and  September 
seem  to  be  the  only  inhabitants  of  this  part  of 
the  border  or  the  garden.  If  the  objection  be 
raised  that  the  poppy  leaves  must  shade  such 
seeds  in  May  and  June,  I  reply  that  it  is  easy  so 
to  stake  aside  a  leaf  or  two  of  the  poppy  in  many 
places  as  to  allow  the  sun  full  access  to  the  little 
seedlings  of  annuals. 

Shall  I  be  forgiven  for  returning  to  the  subject 
of  sea-lavenders,  or  statices,  for  a  moment  ?  Seeds 
of  several  varieties  started  under  glass  not  only 
made  a  pretty  effect  in  rows  but  became  a  ne- 
cessity for  cutting.  The  variety  honduelli  already 
mentioned  was  tried  for  the  first  time,  taken  on 
faith  and  the  word  of  Sutton  &  Sons.  It  found 
favor  at  once.  Statice  sinuata,  mauve,  came  true 
to  its  name,  bearing  pale-mauve  flowers  in  what 
might  be  called  tiny  boughs  or  branches  about  a 
foot  from  the  ground.  Statice  sinuata  Mauve  proved 
to  be  of  many  lovely  tones  of  pale  mauve,  bluish 
mauve,  and  cream-white.  But,  oh,  the  pale-yel- 
low variety,  S.  sinuata  honduelli,  again !  In  this 
we  have  almost  a  primrose-yellow  Gypsophila  pa- 
niculata  for  the  making  delicate  of  our  bowls  and 
jars  of  July  flowers.  One  should  see  it  with  sea- 
holly.     On  its  fitness  for  use  with  Gladiolus  primu- 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

linus  hybrids  I  have  already  dwelt;  indeed,  there 
is  hardly  one  flower  whose  beauty  it  might  not 
enhance.  And  then  —  amusing  to  me  who  dislike 
dried  flowers  for  decorative  uses  —  the  texture  of 
all  these  statices  is  like  that  of  tissue-paper. 
Draw  the  finger  lightly  across  their  flower  clusters 
when  in  full  bloom  and  hear  the  soft  rustle  of 
them !  Statice  bonduelli  against  brown-seeding 
gypsophila,  the  single,  with  the  great  orange  lily, 
Lilium  superbum,  is  exceedingly  good  in  effect 
because  of  the  yellow-green  of  the  statice  and  of 
the  lily-buds.  The  decorative  value  of  seeds  ripe, 
but  not  too  ripe,  is  seldom  dwelt  upon,  but  I  can 
assure  the  reader  that  the  three  things  mentioned 
make  together  a  most  lovely  planting  for  early 
August  and  are  equally  beautiful  when  cut. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  set  down  here  a  brief 
account  of  trials  of  some  newer  gladioli,  only  of 
those  which  made  themselves  uncommonly  wel- 
come. In  Display,  mentioned  above  as  a  fine 
neighbor  for  the  rose-colored  poppy,  I  noticed  a 
flower  of  very  beautiful  form  —  a  broad,  well- 
opened  flower  of  most  decided  character  and  good 
looks;  on  its  outer  petals  is  a  suffusion  of  Rose 
begonia  No.  1,  deepening  toward  the  outer  edges 
to  Rose  vieux  No.  2.  The  anthers  bore  a  dis- 
170 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

tinct  lavender  tone,  and  a  fine  cream-white  on 
the  lower  petals  of  the  gladiolus  connected  the 
darker  shades  of  rose  above  and  below  it. 

The  marvellous  Mrs.  Frank  Pendleton  I  also 
saw  a  year  since  for  the  first  time,  and  this  was 
an  experience  apart.  The  flower,  a  broad,  finely 
opened  one  of  white,  carried  petals  all  flushed  to- 
ward the  tips  with  Rose  malvace;  the  markings 
of  lower  petals  were  of  extraordinary  richness  and 
depth  of  color.  In  chart  colors  the  nearest  to 
this  tone  was  Rouge  carombier  No.  4,  but  the 
plate  was  really  neither  dark  nor  velvety  enough. 
Rouge  Andrinople  No.  1  is  the  tone  of  these 
large  oval  markings.  Mrs.  Pendleton  is  a  gladi- 
olus in  a  thousand,  and  its  American  origin  should 
be  a  matter  for  pride  to  all  in  this  country  who 
cherish  their  gardens. 

The  longer  I  garden,  the  more  deeply  do  I  prize 
all  flowers  in  tones  of  violet  or  deep,  rich  purple. 
We  need  more  such  as  foils  for  paler  colors,  yes, 
and  for  richer  too.  The  Buddleia  is  a  garden 
godsend  and,  pleasant  to  record,  is  rapidly  becom- 
ing better  known.  The  grace  of  its  habit,  the 
charming  lavenders  and  purples  of  its  flowery 
racemes,  not  to  mention  its  gray-green  foliage  and 
its  absolutely  constant  bloom  make  it  already  of 
171 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

value  high  and  wide.  At  the  thought  of  the  vio- 
let gladioli  the  vision  of  those  enchanting  wreaths 
of  lavender  held  out  from  every  Buddleia  plant 
floats  before  my  too  imaginative  eye.  The  illus- 
tration shows  a  group  of  Buddleias  blooming  above 
gladiolus  America,  which  in  its  turn  is  grown  among 
hardy  French  chrysanthemums  partly  for  support 
from  the  latter,  partly  for  succession  of  bloom  in 
the  trial  garden. 

Phoebus,  Nuage,  Abyssine,  Colibri,  and  Satel- 
lite are  the  lavender  or  violet  flowers  I  would  now 
name.  The  first,  possessed  of  long,  narrow  petals, 
whose  general  tone  is  of  Violet  de  campanule  No. 
2,  has  markings  on  the  inferior  petals  of  Violet 
vineux  No.  3.  These  markings  are  long,  pointed 
blotches  terminating  in  spaces  of  tenderest  creamy 
yellow;  the  whole  a  very  handsome  flower  of  the 
hooded  type.  In  Nuage  the  throat  markings  are 
of  Violet  rougeatre  No.  4,  turning  below  to  Violet 
petunia  No.  3;  the  petals  are  of  a  grayish  lavender, 
Violet  franc  No.  1.  Abyssine  is  a  small  gladiolus 
whose  general  tone  is  Violet  prune  No.  4;  a  flower 
one  would  not  be  without,  so  velvet-soft,  so  won- 
derful in  color.  Baron  Hulot  has  long  been  indis- 
pensable to  us  all;  Abyssine  ranks  with  Baron 
Hulot. 

172 


BUDDLEIA   VARIABILIS  MAGNIFICA,    WHITE    ZINNIA    BELOW 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

Colibri  is  a  flower  of  many  lovely  tones  of 
mauve  and  violet,  not  large  but  in  color  unique. 
On  its  three  inner  petals  are  narrow  central  mark- 
ings of  yellowish  cream.  The  dark  edges  of  the 
petals  are  of  Violet  pourpre  No.  1 ;  a  lighter  tone 
is  seen  toward  the  centre,  though  all  is  so  veined 
and  touched  with  mauve  and  violet  as  to  be 
difficult  to  describe. 

Satellite  is  the  last  of  this  dark-hued  list.  Here 
the  general  tone  is  Violet  prune  No.  4  relieved  by 
tones  of  Amarante  in  all  its  shades  in  the  chart. 
Two  perfectly  rounded  lower  petals  of  Violet  pen- 
see  No.  4  give  an  astonishing  beauty  to  the  flower. 
In  my  notes  concerning  it  I  find  this  entry:  "No 
gladiolus  to  compare  with  this,"  coupled  with  an 
admonition  to  myself  to  grow  it  with  delphinium 
Mrs.  J.  S.  Brunton,  or,  for  a  richer  effect,  among 
or  beyond  the  tall  phlox  GoHath.  For  those  who 
would  know  accurately  the  color  of  the  delphin- 
ium just  mentioned,  I  may  add  that  the  first  two 
shades  of  Bleu  de  cobalte  factice  exactly  represent 
its  petal  colors,  while  its  eye  is  white  tinged  with 
canary-yellow  and  palest  lavender. 

Yet  another  gladiolus,  the  last;  and  this  is  of 
those  lasts  which  shall  be  firsts,  for  it  is  a  giant 
in  size  of  flower  and  height  of  stem  —  a  superb 
173 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

addition  to  the  ranks  of  gladioli.  London  is  its 
imposing  name.  In  color  almost  the  counterpart 
of  America,  its  cool  pink  eminently  fits  it  for  use 
with  the  beautiful  lavender  gladiolus  Badenia. 
The  flowers  of  the  two  are  of  almost  equal  size, 
measuring  four  inches  on  each  side  of  the  triangle 
made  by  the  petals;  and  they  are  quite  ravishing 
together.  Badenia,  the  purple  verbena  Dolores, 
and  that  charming  hardy  phlox  Braga  used  to- 
gether in  a  garden  should  make  a  most  happy 
color  arrangement.  Gladiolus  Satellite,  too,  is 
exceedingly  good  with  phlox  Goliath. 

I  spoke  just  now  of  verbena  Dolores.  To  be 
explicit  as  to  its  color,  it  has  over  its  fine  trusses 
or  panicles  of  bloom  the  darker  shades  of  Bleu 
d'aniline,  but  the  flower  is  much  darker  than  No. 
4  of  this  shade,  and  has  that  velvety  texture  which 
gives  the  dark  verbenas  a  richness  possessed  only 
by  the  darkest  snapdragons. 

In  the  trial  garden  a  few  new  hardy  phloxes  as- 
serted themselves  last  year:  two  or  three  dozen 
planted  in  the  spring  of  the  year  before  rose  in 
their  might  the  second  season  and  sent  forth  glo- 
rious trusses  of  flowers  to  proclaim  their  presence. 
A  first  cousin  in  color  to  the  lovely  Elizabeth 
Campbell,  and  very  beautiful  with  it,  is  Rhyn- 
174 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

strom,  a  recent  acquaintance.  Rhynstrom  has  a 
wonderfully  large  floweret  of  a  delicious  pink;  per- 
fect it  is  before  phlox  Pantheon,  as  it  is  dwarf 
and  of  a  tone  of  rose  to  positively  accentuate  the 
loveliness  of  the  taller  of  the  two.  Baron  von 
Dedem  has  decidedly  the  most  dazzling  hue  of 
all  phloxes.  Its  opening  flowers  are  nearly  if  not 
quite  as  brilliant  as  Coquelicot  in  full  bloom,  and 
the  expanse  of  its  great  blossoms  makes  it  in  the 
garden  a  far  more  telling  phlox  than  the  latter. 
Widar  and  Braga,  two  beauties  in  themselves,  lend 
themselves  well  to  use  as  foregrounds  for  the  taller 
lavender  phloxes  E.  Danzanvilliers  and  Antonin 
Mercie,  again  needing  to  complete  the  picture 
that  good  verbena  Dolores.  Phlox  Braga  is  en- 
trancing with  ageratum  Stella  Gurney  and  with 
the  same  humble  but  most  useful  annual,  Widar, 
discreetly  used,  may  afford  an  effect  as  subtle  as 
it  is  lovely. 

The  recent  vogue  of  lavender  in  all  sorts  of 
feminine  accessories  is  known  to  us  all.  There  is 
in  this  hue  a  certain  refinement,  a  charm,  which 
makes  it  a  special  favorite  for  the  woman  no 
longer  young.  Can  it  be,  I  wonder,  that  the  sug- 
gestion is  taken  unconsciously  from  Nature's  own 
use  of  the  tone  in  the  waning  of  summer,  from 
175 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

those  flowers  which  embroider  the  roadsides  with 
lavender-purple  in  September  —  aster,  ironweed, 
the  tall  liatris?  Be  this  or  not  a  foolish  fancy, 
there  is  no  flower  of  more  value  and  of  greater 
beauty  in  the  September  garden  than  the  Bud- 
dleia.  It  is  at  every  stage  of  growth  most  lovely, 
and  in  its  fulness  of  bloom  a  thing  to  marvel  at. 
For  an  autumn  picture,  set  the  variety  known  as 
Magnifica  back  of  phlox  Antonin  Mercie  (in  its 
second  bloom,  all  first  flowers  having  been  cut 
immediately  upon  passing),  with  masses  of  green- 
white  zinnias  also  in  the  foreground.  Phlox 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  the  tall  late  white,  creates  a  beau- 
tiful background  for  these  Buddleias,  the  graceful 
lavender  plumes  of  the  latter  very  delicate  against 
the  round  white  mounds  of  the  phlox  trusses. 
Mr.  E.  H.  Wilson,  an  authority  upon  Buddleias 
as  well  as  upon  all  other  Chinese  plants,  shrubs, 
and  trees,  suggests  the  planting  of  Sorbaria  arborea 
and  its  varieties  by  the  brook  or  pond  side  in  com- 
bination with  Buddleia.  "The  effect  is  every- 
thing the  most  fastidious  could  wish  for." 

Also  in  mid-September,  a  great  group  of  flow- 
ers then  in  perfection  in  the  trial  garden  gave  ex- 
cellent suggestion  for  a  planned  planting.      This, 
altogether  a  happening  in  arrangement,  was  seen 
176 


MIDSUMMER    POMPS 

against  a  trellis  covered  with  leaves  of  the  vine. 
Close  against  the  green  stood  in  slender  dignity 
a  group  of  blooming  Ilclianthus  orgyalis.  Miss 
Mellish,  ten  feet  tall,  its  blooms  of  clear  yellow 
shining  against  the  upper  blue.  Below  the  Helian- 
thus,  Sutton's  Dwarf  Primrose  sunflower  raised 
its  pale-3"ellow  heads  with  dark-brown  centres, 
the  yellow-green  leaves  forming  a  spreading  back- 
ground for  tall  white  zinnias  arrayed  in  groups 
below.  The  semi-dwarf  lavender  phlox  Antonin 
Mercie,  with  fragrant  creamy-white  Acidanthera  hi- 
color  before  it,  made  the  foreground  of  this  picture, 
and  those  who  would  have  tones  in  flowers  ranging 
from  pure  chrome-yellow  through  primrose  to  lav- 
ender and  cream-white  will  do  well  to  plan  this 
simply  made  and  satisfying  group.  Introduce  a 
few  hardy  asters  such  as  James  Ganly,  with  a  bit 
of  low-growing  verbena  Dolores  in  the  extreme 
foreground,  and  a  delicacy  of  form  and  a  rich 
color  accent,  too,  are  at  once  added  to  such  a 
scheme  as  this. 

To  return  to  midsummer  flowers  —  three  brief 
suggestions  and  I  have  done.  A  rich  royal-purple 
Antirrhinum,  Purple  King  by  name,  was  excellent 
when  cut,  with  Statice  bonduclli;  the  new  giants 
of  double  zinnias,  rose-colored  ones  only,  were 
177 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

permitted  to  show  their  stout  heads  among  the 
early-flowering  white  cosmos,  the  dwarf  variety; 
and  more  lovely  even  than  these  was  the  picture 
before  touched  upon  of  pearly-white  platycodon 
with  fluffy  heads  of  the  double  rose-pink  poppy 
encompassing  it  about.  These  arrangements  may 
strike  the  expert  flower  gardener  as  too  common- 
place to  be  entertained.  I  offer  them  as  points 
of  departure  and  already  think  with  satisfaction 
of  the  loveliness  that  may  spring  from  them  in 
better  hands  than  mine. 


XIII 
GARDEN   NOTES   IN    1921 


Binding  all  is  the  rich  thread  of  the  seasons,  with  its 
many-coloured  strands;  and,  backing  all,  the  increasing 
knowledge  of  Nature  and  her  ways,  that  revolving  wheel 
of  beauty  growmg  ever  more  complex  and  yet  more  clear, 
more  splendid. 

— Constance  Holme,  "The  Splendid  Fairing." 


XIII 
GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

1ET  me  preface  these  notes  with  some  hints  on 
■^  flower  arrangement  derived  from  a  particu- 
larly good  source.  About  two  years  ago  certain 
members  of  the  Woman's  National  Farm  and 
Garden  Association  lent  their  houses  in  Boston 
and  New  York  for  a  lecture  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Letson,  of 
a  florist's  firm  in  the  first-named  city.  If  I  am 
not  wrong,  this  was  the  first  time  that  Mr.  Letson, 
a  recognized  authority  in  such  matters,  had  ever 
spoken  in  public  or  demonstrated  his  ways  of  ar- 
ranging flowers,  though  we  had  all  known  him  as 
a  master  of  his  art.  So  much  has  been  said  since 
these  talks  concerning  Mr.  Letson's  idea  that  it 
seems  not  out  of  place  to  give  a  resume  of  these. 
Mr.  Letson  does  not  advocate  the  use  of  shears 
for  cutting  the  flowers.  He  would  use  a  sharp 
knife,  make  a  long  slanting  cut  and  split  the  stem 
for  some  distance.  In  this  way  a  greater  surface 
is  offered  for  drawing  water  into  the  stems  and 
foliage.  A  dull  knife  or  dull  shears  and  a  cut 
181 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

straight  across  tears  the  cells  and  clogs  up  the  en- 
trance for  water.  All  flowers  treated  in  the  way 
just  described  will  far  outlast  those  treated  other- 
wise. Heliotrope,  which  is  a  subject  given  to 
quick  wilting  without  recovery,  will  behave  very 
well  if  the  stems  are  first  plunged  into  hot  water 
(as  hot  as  the  hand  will  bear)  for  ten  minutes. 
Many  other  flowers,  especially  all  having  a  woody 
tissue,  like  dahlias,  poppies,  mignonette,  etc., 
act  favorably  after  this  treatment.  For  flowers 
with  a  succulent  stem  this  treatment  will  not  do; 
cold  water  is  sufficient.  Flowers  with  hard- 
wooded  stems,  shrubs,  say  lilacs,  should  have  the 
bark  peeled  and  rolled  back  for  a  few  inches;  the 
bare  stem  is  then  split  and  immersed  in  boiling 
water  for  ten  minutes,  whereupon  the  w^hole  stem 
is  put  into  the  vase  containing  cold  water.  Fresh 
roses  that  have  for  some  reason  wilted  can  be 
brought  back  very  easily  by  throwing  them  into 
a  tub  of  cold  water  for  an  hour  or  more.  They 
come  out  then  very  fresh.  In  severe  weather 
flowers  received  in  the  store  from  the  greenhouse 
or  by  a  customer  from  the  store  should  not  be  un- 
packed for  a  few  hours.  They  should  be  left  un- 
touched in  the  box  and  put  into  a  cool  room, 
where  the  temperature  in  the  box  will  be  given  a 
182 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

chance  to  cool  slowly.  Then  they  should  be 
treated  as  mentioned  above,  each  kind  accordingly. 
To  restore  the  freshness  of  violets  after  they  have 
been  worn,  hold  the  flowers  upside  down  under 
the  faucet,  let  the  water  run  through  them  for 
three  to  five  minutes,  then  roll  in  paper  and  put 
the  stems  up  to  the  necks  into  fresh  water  for  a 
few  hours. 

The  speaker  then  demonstrated  in  a  general 
way  how  to  arrange  flowers  in  vases  and  other  con- 
tainers. He  laid  great  stress  upon  the  importance 
of  having  containers  not  only  of  appropriate  and 
artistic  designs  but  also  of  the  right  proportion 
with  regard  to  height  and  width.  A  graceful  and 
satisfactory  effect  can  be  produced  best  with  very 
few  flowers.  Mr.  Letson  likes  to  use  the  green  of 
box  for  a  foundation  in  a  vase  or  basket.  This 
green  is  not  to  show  above  the  rim;  it  is  simply 
there  to  stick  the  flowers  into  and  to  steady  them. 
No  other  foliage  but  that  belonging  to  the  flower 
should  ever  be  used.  Mr.  Letson  is  absolutely 
against  the  indiscriminate  use  of  all  kinds  of  rib- 
bons in  the  arranging  of  flowers  in  vases,  baskets, 
or  otherwise.  Here  or  there  a  bow  of  ribbon  may 
be  advisable,  but  never  on  the  handle  of  a  basket 
nor  around  the  neck  of  a  vase.  He  referred  to  re- 
183 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

cent  visits  to  New  York  and  other  places  where  he 
had  seen  the  much  beribboned  hydrangeas  and 
other  plants,  and  said  that  there  might  be  uses 
for  ribbon,  but  it  was  not  on  a  well-grown,  well- 
flowered  plant.  When  he  does  use  ribbon,  it  is  of 
the  more  showy  type,  and  not  crape  or  silk. 
Color  arrangements  were  mentioned,  and  lavender 
and  orange,  such  as  lavender  sweet  peas  and 
calendulas,  were  suggested.  The  scattering  of 
greenery  on  tables  after  flowers  had  been  ar- 
ranged was  roundly  denounced  as  utterly  uncalled 
for  and  out  of  place.  The  speaker  then  closed 
with  a  demonstration  of  arrangement  of  narcissi. 
The  paragraphs  above  are  a  compilation  from 
reports  in  The  Florists''  Exchange  and  The  Florists' 
Review.  They  are  full  of  suggestion  and  sound 
advice  for  amateurs  as  well  as  for  professionals — 
for  the  woman  in  her  house  as  well  as  for  the 
woman  florist.  Where  box  green  is  not  obtain- 
able, other  foliage  green  may  be  substituted.  I 
use  twigs,  young  twigs  of  bush  honeysuckle  often 
in  steadying  flowers  in  bowls  or  tall  opaque  vases; 
and  I  take  this  because  it  grows  at  hand,  and  is 
the  most  convenient  thing  to  get.  I  crumple  the 
twigs  with  the  leaves  on  them  and  press  this  into 
the  jars  or  bowls.  Or  often  in  broad  and  shallow 
184 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

receptacles,  which  compel  the  use  of  two  or  three 
Mason  jars  full  of  water  for  gladioli,  peonies,  and 
so  on,  I  use  these  same  twigs  to  stuff  the  space  be- 
tween the  jars  and  the  edges  or  sides  of  a  large, 
low  basket.  They  are  never  seen,  yet  the  ar- 
rangement is  kept  firm  in  this  way,  even  if  carried 
for  a  distance. 

March  25,  1921. 

On  October  22  of  last  year  there  was  shipped 
by  express  from  a  town  in  Nottinghamshire,  Eng- 
land, a  small  collection  of  fine  daffodils,  fourteen 
in  all.  These  should  have  reached  me  in  late  No- 
vember, allowing  for  all  delays,  but  December 
passed,  and  on  January  17  arrived  upon  a  Ten- 
nessee mountain  top  a  small  box  containing  the 
bulbs.  Some  of  them  seemed  sound,  a  few  were 
hollow  and  worthless,  one  had  vanished.  Gar- 
denless,  I  looked  about  to  see  who  would  give  me 
bulbous  hospitality  for  the  winter.  Two  kind 
members  of  the  Garden  Club  of  Lookout  Moun- 
tain offered  the  needed  space.  After  some  two 
months  on  ships  and  trains  these  were  consigned 
to  earth  with  many  fears  and  hopes,  with  the  re- 
sult that  to-day,  March  25,  1921,  three  beauties 
of  daffodils  are  blooming  in  Tennessee,  a  State 
185 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

which  may  not  have  seen  these  before.  Three  are 
before  me  as  I  write:  Elvira,  Noble,  and  Chal- 
lenger. And  now,  in  trying  to  describe  them,  how 
I  long  for  my  color-charts  which  are  miles  away. 
Elvira's  starry  cream-white  perianth  measures 
three  inches  across,  its  pale  straw-yellow  trumpet 
is  one  inch  in  length  and  has  edges  more  delignt- 
fuUy  frilled  than  any  daffodil  I  have  yet  seen. 
The  perianth  here  is  like  a  six-pointed  star  be- 
cause of  the  overlapping  of  its  segments;  the  effect 
is  lovely.  Noble,  a  magnificent  flower,  stands 
from  the  ground  twelve  inches,  and  its  giant 
spread  across  the  perianth  is  as  much  as  four 
inches.  The  perianth,  each  segment  almost  apart 
from  its  neighbor  or  with  an  effect  of  distinctness 
because  of  the  slight  reflexing  of  each  one,  has  a 
superb  appearance  and  forms  the  setting  for  a 
rich  chrome-yellow  trumpet  one  inch  long  with 
rather  broadly  frilled  edges.  Superb  is  not  too 
strong  a  term  to  apply  to  this  flower.  In  my  fear 
lest  the  warm  weather,  which  brought  the  bulbs  to 
the  budding  stage,  might  change  to  cold  and  even 
frosty  nights,  I  brought  a  bud  of  each  inside  to 
develop  in  water,  leaving  a  duplicate  on  each  plant 
to  watch  the  behavior  in  the  two  atmospheres. 
The  difference  is  striking,  those  in  the  house  never 
186 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

reaching  the  height  of  general  size  of  the  dwellers 
in  the  open.  The  indoor  flower  of  Noble  is  only 
two-thirds  the  size  of  its  naturally  developing 
companion. 

Challenger,  of  which  I  had  often  heard,  stands 
now  before  me.  What  a  glory  in  daffodils  is  this, 
and  what  a  sensation  it  must  have  made  when 
first  show^n.  The  segments  of  its  cream-white 
petals  are  distinctly  reflexed;  its  slender  trumpet 
has  a  length  greater,  I  believe,  than  any  I  have 
ever  before  seen  in  daffodils  —  two  inches.  Im- 
agine this,  if  you  can;  with  a  bold  frill  at  the  low- 
est diameter  of  the  perianth  three  and  a  half 
inches;  and  of  the  trumpet  at  the  lower  edge, 
one  and  one-quarter  inches.  In  proportion  to  its 
length  this  trumpet  is  excessively  slender  —  its 
color  a  silvery  yellow  —  a  beautiful  pale  tone. 
The  stem  of  my  flower  is  ten  inches  in  height,  but 
I  believe  Challenger  under  entirely  favorable  con- 
ditions grows  much  tafler  than  this. 

May  1,  1921. 

Not  one  of  the  newer  shrubs,  those  offered  to 

the  American  public  only  within  the  last  ten  or 

fifteen  years,  not  one  can  be  more  worth  buying 

for  the  garden  large  or  small,  than  the  Viburnum 

187 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

from  Korea,  Viburnum  carlesii.  It  is  hard  to  de- 
scribe the  beauty  of  this  least  known  of  the  Vi- 
burnums. Those  who  Hke  Viburnum  plicatum 
and  the  Japanese  variety  of  the  same  family  will 
find  here  a  great  difference  between  their  old 
favorites  and  this  newcomer;  the  important  differ- 
ence being  one  of  richness  in  texture  of  the  flowers, 
of  color  of  buds,  and  in  scent.  In  fact,  Vibur- 
num carlesii  has  a  fragrance  not  surpassed  in 
delicious  quality  by  any  flower  that  I  know.  The 
lovely  rose-pink  buds  of  this  shrub,  too,  appearing 
in  the  cluster  with  the  pure-white  flowers,  are 
noticeably  handsome.  Viburnum  carlesii  grows 
to  four  or  five  feet,  and  is  a  wonderfully  fine  sub- 
ject for  the  small  garden,  and  for  the  large  no  less. 
Plumbago  capensis  is  of  the  loveliest  tone  of 
fair,  pale  lavender.  The  flowers,  though  growing 
at  the  ends  of  branching  stems,  recall  at  once 
the  flowers  of  Phlox  divaricata  canadensis.  The 
habit  of  growth,  the  spare  but  handsome  clusters 
of  ovate  leaves  set  alternately  along  the  strong, 
light  stems,  and  the  beautiful  racemes  of  slender 
buds  in  which  each  branch  ends,  combine  to  make 
this  plumbago  a  flower  of  incredible  distinction. 
The  slender  tubular  throat  of  each  floret,  clear 
lavender  throughout,  adds  a  light  charm,  and  the 
188 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

length  of  the  blooming  period  must  be  remarkable, 
since  when  the  lowest  part  of  the  raceme  is  in  full 
flower,  all  upper  buds  are  still  pale-lavender  points; 
the  effect  always  being  of  a  large  Phlox-like  head 
of  bloom,  though,  as  I  said  before,  of  a  grace  and 
lightness  unattained  by  any  ordinary  Phlox.  On 
that  fortunate  day  when  I  had  my  first  delectable 
sight  of  Plumbago  cayensis  I  was  shown,  in  a 
charming  hillside  garden,  which  everywhere  bore 
the  imprint  of  its  owner's  personal  care,  a  so- 
called  red  valerian,  a  flower  unknown  here  and 
but  little  known  in  England,  growing  only  on  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  Though  a  so-called  red,  it  is  really 
a  deep  and  telling  rose-pink.  The  height  of  the 
plant  is  not  so  great  by  half  as  of  the  white  vari- 
ety seen  in  gardens  old  and  new,  nor  is  the  scent 
as  pronounced  as  in  the  old  form,  but  the  plant 
itself  is  an  object  of  beauty  and  affords  an  uncom- 
monly interesting  subject  for  the  border. 

May  15,  1921. 

This  spring  I  have  discovered  in  the  borders 
here  a  lovely  little  contemporary  and  running 
mate  of  the  Myosotis.  It  is  Anchusa  myosotidi- 
flora,  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  eager-looking 
small  flowers  that  I  know.  The  bloom,  precisely 
189 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

like  that  of  the  Forget-me-not,  is  held  well  above 
the  flat-lying  large  green  leaves,  and  is  of  Ridg- 
way's  color,  called  Forget-me-not  Blue,  but  much 
stronger  in  tone.  The  color  in  the  French  Chart 
is  212-1,  and  this  plate  absolutely  represents  the 
hue  of  the  flower.  These  lovely  blue  things  are 
blooming  in  a  narrow  border  with  Dicentra  eximia, 
mauve  (plants  given  me  by  Mrs.  Walter  Brew- 
ster, of  Lake  Forest),  while  tulip,  John  Ruskin 
flowers  above  them  —  a  very  interesting,  indeed 
subtle,  combination  of  color.  This  morning  the 
terrific  frost,  which  most  of  us  had  feared  would 
follow  the  abnormally  warm  spring,  has  caused 
these  tulips  to  bend  over  the  low  flowers  —  a 
plaintive  sight  to  the  garden's  owner.  The  blue 
Anchusa  seems  not  to  have  felt  the  cold. 

Barr's  Alpine  Forget-me-not  is  one  of  the  best 
blues  in  all  flowers:  R.  Forget-me-not  Blue,  French 
Chart  212-1.  It  is  far  finer  in  color  than  the 
Sutton's  Myosotis,  either  Perfection  or  Royal 
Blue;  for  it  is  true  blue,  but  deeper.  I  find  in  the 
French  Chart  no  plate  to  correspond  with  the 
color  of  these  last-mentioned  flowers.  In  Ridg- 
way  their  color  is  Light  Forget-me-not  Blue. 

In  a  little  bowl  before  me  are  these  three  blue 
things,  the  May-flowering  Anchusa  and  the  two 
190 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

Myosotises  of  Barr  and  Sutton,  but  beside  these 
is  an  entirely  new  and  most  beautiful  small  an- 
nual flower  —  new  to  me,  that  is  —  Cynoglossum. 
This  was  started  from  seed  in  the  garden  borders 
last  spring.  All  that  developed  by  October  were 
fine  mounds  of  gray-green  leaves  of  an  unusually 
interesting  form.  Therefore,  as  the  flower  was 
said  to  be  of  uncommon  charm,  the  plants  were 
given  to  a  florist,  and  this  week  they  have  been 
returned  to  me  in  full  bloom.  But  what  a  change  ! 
Instead  of  the  solid,  low-growing  plants  with  large 
leaves,  here  are  plants  in  pots,  a  foot  tall,  with 
very  few  leaves,  spare,  thin,  pale  green,  up  the 
tall  stems,  and  those  stems  topped  by  spraying 
clusters,  or  rather  little  racemes,  of  the  most 
charming  blue  flowers  imaginable.  They  are  al- 
most indistinguishable  from  the  Myosotis,  but 
much  fuller  flowering  —  and  the  flowers  have  no 
yellow  centres  like  the  Myosotis;  also  they  are  of 
a  richer  blue.  What  a  plant  to  use  in  spring  with 
other  flowers,  if  one  only  knew  what  it  would 
really  do  with  us;  its  luxuriant  bloom  —  compared 
with  that  of  the  Myosotis  —  and  its  pleasant  height 
would  give  it  great  value  for  composition.  I  shall 
proceed  to  set  these  plants  out-of-doors  and  see 
how  long  they  last  in  flower. 
191 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Peake,  in  his  delightful  little  handbook,  men- 
tions as  the  only  blue-flowering  Cynoglossum  the 
variety  pidum  or  creticum,  from  southern  Europe, 
and  calls  it  a  hardy  biennial.  Bailey  seems  to  scorn 
the  whole  tribe  with  such  words  as  tall,  coarse, 
weedy,  but  adds:  "A  new  plant,  C.  furcatum,  has 
recently  been  introduced.  It  is  a  hairy  herb,  one 
to  three  feet  high,  with  large  leaves  and  blue 
flowers  in  clusters  as  in  forget-me-not."  This 
comes  from  India  and  flowers  in  June.  All  the 
Cynoglossums  are  of  the  Borage  family  and  their 
common  name  is  Hound's  Tongue. 

Speaking  of  blue  flowers,  a  bit  of  the  pleasure 
of  quoting  a  paragraph  from  Mrs.  Cran's  "The 
Garden  of  Ignorance"  will  not  be  denied  me: 

"A  child  set  me  a  problem  for  a  color  picture 
last  autumn.  We  were  talking  garden  talk.  I 
said  I  was  planning  pretty  colors  to  plant  now, 
ready  for  springtime,  and  I  went  on  rashly:  *Tell 
me  the  prettiest  thing  you  ever  saw  in  a  garden 
and  I  will  try  to  make  it  for  you  to  see  next  April.' 
The  nearest  he  could  get  to  what  was  evidently  a 
very  strong  and  beloved  memory  picture  ran  thus: 
*A  blue  cloud  it  was,  you  know,  all  feathery  blue, 
like  a  cloud,  and  it  had  bluer  things  in  it  like 
swords,  you  know,  like  blue  swords  they  were.' 
192 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

What  flowers  made  this  effect  precisely  I  shall 
probably  never  know.  Anyway,  a  long  border  is 
now  planted  thickly  with  Forget-me-nots  and 
Heavenly  Blue  Muscari." 

While  on  the  subject  of  blue  flowers,  Aconi- 
tum  wilsonii  (205-4  in  the  French  Chart,  Ridg- 
way,  deep,  dull,  bluish  violet)  is  not  at  all  a 
flower  of  solid  color,  and  it  is  curious  to  notice, 
as  it  is  held  against  the  Ridgway  page,  how  the 
very  gray  of  that  page,  a  background  for  the 
violet  color  squares,  repeats  the  gray  reflections 
in  the  flowers  of  the  aconite.  If  any  one  will  take 
the  trouble  to  look  at  the  lower  half  of  Ridgway's 
Plate  No.  32,  leaving  out  the  black  squares  be- 
low, he  will  get  the  whole  general  effect  of  Aconi- 
tum  wilsonii  as  grown  in  my  garden.  I  have  sel- 
dom had  such  a  disappointment  in  color  as  this. 
Yes;  one  that  was  even  greater,  I  remember,  and 
will  tell  of  here.  There  appeared  two  years  ago, 
in  an  English  gardening  journal,  a  letter  from  a 
writer  all  excitement  over  the  new  Sweet  Peas. 
He  lamented  his  own  inability  to  procure  seed  of 
a  novelty  called  "Mrs.  Tom  Jones"  sent  out  by 
Sydenham  —  a  Sweet  Pea  of  a  ''true  blue."  My 
curiosity  aroused  —  that  horticultural  curiosity 
which  will  not  dow^n  —  I  sent  for  four  packets  of 
193 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

ten  seeds  each.  Judge  of  my  amazement  and  de- 
light when  I  saw  on  each  package  these  words: 
"Bright  Delphinium  Blue."  What  might  we  not 
accomplish  in  gardens  with  a  really  blue  Sweet 
Pea !  Visions  of  clouds  of  azure  flowers  to  bloom 
after  Delphiniums  had  passed  and  hover  over  rose- 
colored  Phloxes,  above  violet  petunias,  and  so  on, 
came  with  exciting  clearness  to  my  mind,  and  as 
the  great  day  drew  near  for  the  opening  of  the 
first  bloom  of  Mrs.  Tom  Jones  I  visited  my  six- 
foot  row  of  plants  every  few  hours.  To  what  dis- 
appointments are  we  gardeners  doomed  !  Fancy 
mine  when  I  not  only  could  not  see  in  the  first 
open  Sweet  Peas  here  the  blue  I  had  expected,  but 
on  comparing  it  with  the  two  color  charts,  the 
flower  fell  distinctly  in  the  class  of  violets. 

Here  I  draw  a  long  breath,  and  say  to  myself: 
"Can  others  feel  as  strongly  as  I  do  on  such  a 
subject  as  the  color  of  one  small  flower.?"  I 
think  how  foolish  such  excitement  over  details 
must  seem  to  colder,  clearer  minds  than  mine,  and 
I  am  reminded  of  a  charming  letter  from  an  Eng- 
lishman, a  writer  on  gardening,  who  after  reading 
this  very  book  wrote  me  as  follows: 

"I  don't  find  you  guilty  of  cant,  not  so  far,  but 
you  had  better  take  care,  because  I  am  quite  sure 
194 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

that  the  besetting  sin  of  writers  on  horticulture 
and  religion  is  cant.  Writers  on  aesthetic  garden- 
ing should  go  down  on  their  knees  every  morning 
and  beseech  the  Lord  Almighty  to  save  them  from 
cant.  I  will  giye  you  an  example  of  one  form  of 
horticultural  cant  which  infects  almost  every 
writer  on  aesthetic  gardening  —  the  universal 
praise  of  cottage  gardens  qua  cottage  gardens.  A 
garden  has  only  to  be  round  a  cottage  and  you  may 
bring  your  colors  into  any  sort  of  atrocious  com- 
bination you  choose  and  the  result  will  be  charm- 
ing, exquisite,  something  beyond  the  High  Hall 
gardener's  with  all  his  resources.  I  love  a  nice 
cottage  garden  myself,  if  it  happens  to  be  neat 
and  unpretentious  and  if  the  jflowers  and  vege- 
tables in  it  look  happy  —  but  I  have  never  yet 
seen  the  cottage  garden  which,  if  I  came  to  pos- 
sess it,  I  should  not  have  remade  within  three 
months." 

May  28,  1921. 
In  our  apple-orchard  is  a  picture  of  white  flow- 
ers which  furnishes  one  of  the  nicest  examples 
possible  of  succession  of  bloom  for  late  May  and 
early  June.  It  centres  upon  an  old  gray  boulder, 
a  rock  which  is  our  solitary  possession  in  such 
195 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

things,  a  rock  which  lay  here  under  the  apple- 
trees  when  twenty  years  ago  we  bought  our  two 
acres  of  ground. 

The  stone  is  gray,  and  in  late  May  the  bough 
of  the  old  Bellflower  apple,  which  droops  above  it, 
is  set  with  rosy  buds  and  clear-white  flowers. 
Below  this  branch  may  be  seen  the  leafless, 
thorny  stems  of  Rosa  spinosissima  altaica,  one  of 
my  many  delightful  presents  from  Mr.  W.  C. 
Egan,  whose  eightieth  birthday  was  lately  cele- 
brated by  the  Garden  Club  of  Illinois.  Is  there  a 
pleasure  comparable  to  that  coming  from  the  gift 
of  a  rare  shrub  or  plant  ^  I  think  not.  Joy  per- 
petual comes  with  such  givings.  In  autumn  and 
winter  the  dark  haws  of  this  rose  are  interesting, 
the  thorny  branches  have  their  own  attraction;  in 
early  spring  the  darting  leaf  buds  are  an  excite- 
ment. In  June  the  pure-white  roses  are  a  flowery 
miracle  and  our  rock  is  again  hung  with,  enveloped 
by,  beauty.  Now  the  leafless  rose-stems  of  the 
first  period  I  now  describe  hold  the  stage  with 
their  fine  bloom.  The  Bellflower  branch  is  clothed 
with  green  apple-leaves,  while  its  lower  neighbor 
proclaims  to  all  how  beautiful  a  species  rose  can 
be.  This  is  a  fine  form  of  the  Scotch  rose,  with 
thorns  in  thousands  along  its  branches,  a  beauti- 
196 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

fully  fine  dark-green  foliage,  a  short-lived  flower 
set  everywhere  along  its  stems.  It  is  extremely 
hardy,  a  decided  acquisition  to  one's  list  of  flow- 
ering plants.  Also  it  is  on  the  market,  or  I  should 
not  be  so  unkind  as  to  sing  its  merits  here.  Where 
a  low  shrub  with  w^hite  bloom  may  be  needed  for 
decorative  effect  in  June,  this  is  the  subject  to 
procure  and  plant.  We  spray  our  treasure  now 
and  then,  but  what  plant  that  gives  such  true 
enjoyment  is  not  worth  this  care  ? 

If  I  have  shown  the  beauty  of  the  passing  and 
the  coming  in  the  self-same  spot  of  these  two  sub- 
jects, the  apple  blossom  and  the  rose;  if  I  have 
been  able  to  suggest  a  little  of  my  own  deep  plea- 
sure in  this  singularly  interesting  appearing,  fad- 
ing, and  reappearing  of  flowers  above  the  boulder, 
I  shall  have  done  what  I  set  out  to  do. 

It  may  be  well  to  add  that  below  the  boulder  is 
a  small  bird-bath,  a  shallow  cup  of  cement  set 
flush  with  the  grass;  that  near  the  rock  daffodil 
White  Lady  and  viola  Apricot  (the  exact  color  of 
its  name)  were  planted  this  year  to  shine  forth 
next  spring  against  reaches  of  green  leaves  of  lily- 
of-the-valley  which  flank  the  boulder  on  either 
side.  What  a  centre  of  interest  in  flowers  here  — 
five  subjects,  three  small,  two  large;  they  will 
197 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

cause  many  exciting  goings  and  comings  over  the 
little  hills  and  dales  of  our  greensward,  for  we  are 
fortunate  in  living  on  uneven  ground. 

June  3, 1921. 

And  now  that  short  but  fragrant  and  most  ex- 
citing time  of  blooming  Philadelphus  is  here,  and 
our  commoner  varieties,  coronarius  and  grandi- 
florus,  were  never  finer.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that 
the  more  hidden  such  shrubs  are  the  better  they 
happen  to  bloom;  in  unpromising  spots  such  as 
beside  the  toolhouse  and  so  on,  the  greater 
loveliness  of  bloom  they  seem  to  show.  Our  fin- 
est is  in  such  an  humble  position,  and  next  it, 
dripping  over  it  indeed,  is  our  best  variety  of 
Wistaria  —  a  longer  tassel  of  bloom,  a  richer 
lavender  than  those  which  hang  in  delicious  pro- 
fusion over  the  trellises  at  each  end  of  the  brick 
terrace  along  the  south  side  of  the  house  at  the 
moment.  But  these,  too,  have  their  charm,  for 
they  are  this  year  hung  thick  with  bloom,  due  to 
three  or  four  years  of  very  severe  pruning.  Each 
year  we  cut  all  young  growth,  twice  during  the 
summer  back  to  two  eyes;  this  we  do  after  bloom- 
ing, then  again  some  six  weeks  later.  These  vines 
are  trained  along  a  horizontal  bar  of  the  trellis, 
198 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

and  in  the  summer  much  younger  growth  is  pro- 
duced, which  hangs  Hke  green  curtains  from  the 
aforesaid  bar.  In  winter  we  lift  and  tie  these 
Hghtly  to  the  bar,  letting  them  down  again  in 
April  or  perhaps  in  March;  this  keeps  them  from 
wind  injury.  They  refuse  to  hang  straight  when 
first  released,  but  as  soon  as  buds  swell  and  flowers 
and  leaves  attain  their  growth,  this^weight  brings 
them  most  beautifully  and  decoratively  into  place. 
Then  we  have  a  picture  of  hanging  lavender  Wis- 
taria bloom  all  along  the  pendent  stems,  fifteen  to 
the  yard,  which  I  think  one  of  the  sweetest  pic- 
tures of  color  and  of  flowery  embellishment  possi- 
ble to  see.  Below  these  Wistarias  is  blooming,  too, 
a  fine  white  rose  from  an  old  New  England  gar- 
den, a  double  flat  rose,  set  round  with  buds  and 
with  a  handsome  large  green  leaf,  and  beyond  the 
Wistaria  cascades  and  mounds  of  bloom  of  the 
ordinary  Philadelphus  lending  both  whiteness  and 
perfume  to  the  pretty  scene.  With  a  foreground 
for  all  this  of  clipped  Cedar  and  Cotoneaster  the 
effect  of  green  and  flowery  growth  is  something  of 
an  achievement.  And  then  to  wander  toward  the 
garden,  where  in  the  freshest  of  early  June  green 
the  radiance  of  pale  Oriental  Poppies  shines  forth 
framed  in  the  delicacy  of  tall  white  Valerian,  with 
199 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

Geranium  grandiflorum  and  the  yellow  of  the 
Sherwin- Wright  Iris  not  far  off,  gives  variety  to 
the  morning  or  the  evening.  Below  this  Cranes- 
bill  or  Geranium  is  a  delightful  little  hardy  dian- 
thus  of  the  most  glowing  solferino  (coBspitosa) ;  it 
is  capital  in  association  with  the  purple  Geranium 
hanging  above  it.  The  season  is  so  strange,  the 
bursting  into  bloom  of  many  flowers  at  once  so  un- 
usual that  I  am  uncertain  as  to  what  to  do  about 
unwelcome  colors,  showing  out  of  their  time;  for 
instance,  here  are  fat  buds  of  pink  dwarf  ramblers 
ready  to  open  below  the  salmon  pink  of  Poppies 
and  the  vivid  deeper  color  of  Poppy  Cerise  Beauty, 
one  of  the  finest  of  all  of  this  family  of  Oriental 
Poppies.  This  will  never  do,  but  which  shall  I 
shear  away  ?  It  will  be  a  nice  question  to  decide, 
and  must  depend,  I  believe,  on  the  ultimate  use 
of  a  cut  flower.  Valerian  is  the  early  white  lace 
flower  of  our  gardens,  as  Statice  is  the  later  lav- 
ender one. 

In  a  great  group  of  cut  Peonies,  such  as  stands 
before  me  now,  how  difficult  it  is  to  choose  the 
loveliest;  Milton  Hill  with  its  beautifully  ar- 
ranged petals  and  its  lovely  shell-pink  tint; 
Heine  Hortense  even  more  like  the  inside  of  the 
conch-shell,  which  all  of  us  held  to  our  ear  as  chil- 
200 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

dren  hearing  the  sound  of  ocean.  This  Peony- 
has  flakes  of  carmine  on  its  inner  petals  and  a 
small  but  perfect  centre  of  yellow  stamens.  Mme. 
August  Dessert  is  one  of  the  cool,  pale  pinks  with 
a  fine  cup-shaped  crown,  a  whitish  collar,  and 
pink  guard  petals,  turning  down  from  the  others. 
Mme.  Jules  Dessert  is  a  glory  in  white,  very  large 
and  fine,  with  the  faintest  pink  blush  toward  the 
centre;  a  purer  white  is  Enchanteresse  with  cut- 
tings of  the  petals  which  add  much  lightness  to 
the  flower;  also  thread-like  touches  of  carmine 
along  the  edges  of  a  few  of  the  white  petals. 
Eugene  Verdier  is  an  old  Peony;  one  of  those  de- 
licious combinations  of  palest  pink  and  palest 
yellow. 

Raoul  Dessert  has  its  own  fine  flush  of  pink  on 
pinkish  white.  It  is  small  but  said  to  last  wonder- 
fully well  in  water.  Livingston  is  rose  pink, 
splendid  in  form,  held  on  a  strong,  stiff  stem,  and 
with  a  delicious  fragrance.  Duchesse  de  Ne- 
mours is  small  but  elegant,  with  broad  petals  of 
white,  and  a  whole  tuft  of  slender  ones  on  top 
deepening  in  the  centre  to  pale  primrose-yellow. 
Philippe  Rivoire  is  a  rich,  true  solferino,  beauti- 
fully flat  and  well  shaped.  It  is  solid,  with  heart- 
shaped  guard  petals,  gradually  narrowing  to 
201 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

slender  ones  in  the  centre.  Every  tone  of  the  four 
on  page  180  of  the  French  Chart,  Violet  rougeatre, 
or  Reddish  Violet,  belongs  to  this  Peony.  Peony 
Walter  Faxon  in  its  marvellous  beauty  has  given 
me  great  difficulty  with  regard  to  its  color  mark- 
ing. French  Chart  162,  No.  1,  is  the  nearest  I 
could  get  to  it.  Lilac  Rose;  but  the  pink  to  most 
of  us  who  do  not  compare  it  with  a  chart  makes  it 
perhaps  the  warmest  of  all  pale  Peonies.  Tholite 
pink.  Rose  pink,  Hermosa  pink  —  I  seem  to  find 
in  this  glorious  long-petalled  flower  all  these  hues 
of  Ridgway.  It  has  the  most  roselike  color  of  any 
Peony  I  know;  that  fresh  clearness  of  hue  which 
one  only  associates  with  rose-petals.  I  can  but 
agree  with  Mrs.  Harding  that  this  is  the  finest 
Peony  of  my  acquaintance;  it  is  a  dream  in  flow- 
ers; the  unattainable  in  Peonies  has  been  reached 
here. 

To-day  the  gardener  came  to  me  with  a  bloom 
of  Iris  ochroleuca  on  its  tall  stalk.  It  had  flowered 
beside  his  cottage.  Here  we  had  it  for  several 
years,  but  it  must  have  been  in  an  overdry  situ- 
ation, for  it  refused  to  bloom.  I  was  sitting  at  the 
tea-table  on  the  terrace,  with  Dykes' s  "The  Genus 
Iris"  on  a  wicker  chair  beside  me  to  the  right  and 
Mrs.  Harding's  ''Book  of  the  Peony"  on  the 
SOS 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

other,  for  Peonies  were  beginning.  Wilson's  Iris, 
with  its  late  pale-yellow  flowers,  was  also  bloom- 
ing in  the  garden,  and  I  had  been  looking  up 
Mr.  Dykes's  description  of  that  when  I  found 
that  Iris  ochroleuca  was  only  suited  to  damp 
places.  Then  came  a  question  to  the  gardener: 
"WTiere  did  you  grow  this  Iris?"  "It  was  under 
the  eaves  of  my  house  where  water  drops  on  it," 
he  replied.  This,  of  course,  it  was  that  gave  him 
the  flower  which  the  plant  refused  to  yield  to  me. 
What  a  strange  Iris  this  is.  The  Greek  ideal  of 
the  human  figure  included  a  small  head,  I  think. 
What  would  the  Athenian  have  said  to  the  minute 
size  of  this  Iris  bloom  at  the  top  of  a  stalk  three 
to  three  and  one-half  feet  high,  a  flower  not  over 
three  inches  in  spread?  But  it  is  a  curiously 
lovely  Iris,  and  where  one  comes  upon  it  in  colonies 
in  western  Asia  Minor  must  have  its  own  fine  ef- 
fect. None  could  call  it  really  beautiful,  because 
of  this  disproportion  between  flower  and  stalk. 

I  am  always  praising  Valerian  as  a  garden  sub- 
ject, but  till  now,  when  my  two-year-old  plants  are 
in  their  best  estate,  I  could  not  truly  know  how 
valuable  they  are  in  the  garden.  This  year  they 
have  proved  the  foundation  for  two  distinctly 
successful  effects.  This  is  the  14th  of  June  in  a 
203 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

strangely  early  season.  Ten  days  ago  when 
groups  of  Oriental  Poppies  of  pale  tones  were  in 
full  bloom  four  things  contributed  to  form  delight- 
ful backgrounds  for  these  brilliant  flowers:  the 
four  arbor-vitse  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  the 
four  globes  of  box,  the  smooth,  clipped  hedge  of 
Privet  ibota,  and  clouds  of  Valerian  officinalis.  A 
garden  designed  to  be  at  its  best  for  a  period  of 
ten  days  of  early  summer  could  not  be  more  dar- 
ingly splendid  than  if  made  up  of  these  two  flow- 
ers, with  clean-cut  backgrounds  of  green.  True, 
near  the  Valerians  here  were  blooming  some  of 
the  fine  apricot-colored  aquilegias  from  seed  from 
Warley  Place,  but  these,  while  they  enhanced  the 
picture,  were  not  needed  by  it.  To-day  the  Pop- 
pies are  but  dusky-topped  seed-vessels,  the  Colum- 
bines have  flown;  but  the  Valerian  persists.  It 
is  in  great  mounds  of  delicate  bloom.  Below 
it  pale-pink  rambler  roses,  TausendscJion^  have 
opened  dozens  of  soft  flowers  and  a  totally  new 
effect  is  seen;  as  pretty  a  garden  picture  as  one 
could  fancy  for  the  month  of  June.  The  idea  of 
coupling  Valerian  and  Roses  came  to  me  from  the 
garden  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edward  L.  Ryerson,  of 
Lake  Forest.  Here,  sitting  on  the  little  brick 
platform  too,  I  see  between  two  spires  pf  this 
204 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

same  Valerian  and  about  ten  feet  beyond  it  a 
forest  of  little  violet  spikes  of  Salvia  virgata  ne- 
morosa  with  round-headed,  pure-white  clusters 
near  by  of  Phlox  arendsii  (white).  To  the  left, 
where  the  low  sun  filters  through  its  bells,  is  Cam- 
panula  lactiflora  in  full  bloom,  its  flowers  inter- 
mingled with  the  strong,  clear  hue  of  some  good 
Delphinium,  many  of  whose  upper  buds  are  yet  to 
open.  Near  these  tall  flowers  again  others  rise, 
almost  as  tall  or  taller — Clematis  recta's  creamy 
white,  Thalidrum  glaucum's  clear  pale  yellow. 
These  horizontally  blooming  flowers  make  capital 
foils  for  the  upright  racemes  of  their  blue  and  violet 
neighbors. 

And  now  in  the  green  gloom  of  a  June  twilight 
how  line  comes  out  insistent  as  I  survey  this  gar- 
den from  one  corner;  the  lovely  perpendicular  of 
budding  Delphinium,  of  Salvia  sclarea's  great 
mauve  bloom  above  its  pale  leaves  of  green  crape, 
of  Artemisia  lactiflora'' s  pointed  foliage;  of  the 
Valerian,  now  past  its  best,  and  of  Thermopsis, 
whose  yellow  inflorescence  rises  above  the  mauve 
of  Salvia.  These  upright  lines  are  based  by  softly 
curving  ones  of  palest  rambler  roses  in  full  bloom 
and  round  heaps  of  Phlox  foliage,  and  for  back- 
ground there  are  the  level  lines  of  turf,  and  walk 
205 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

of  privet  hedge,  close-clipped,  and  of  trellis  now 
well  clothed  with  leaves  of  grape. 

I  sometimes  ask  myself  what  is  the  day  of 
greatest  pleasure  given  by  this  garden;  what 
change  is  the  most  welcome  and  creates  the  keen- 
est delight  as  I  look  ?  To-day  I  know  how  to  an- 
swer that  question.  For  the  surrounding  hedge 
has  had  its  occasional  clipping  and  the  clean,  long 
lines,  the  solid  squares  of  green  trimmed  privet 
are  lovely  to  see.  Every  spraying  bud,  every 
blooming  flower  is  the  more  beautiful  for  this 
velvet  background  of  two  tones  of  green  —  the 
lighter  tone  of  the  flat  top  of  the  hedge  and  the 
darker  of  its  sides.  The  blue  and  violet  splendors 
of  the  garden  are  three  times  as  rich  for  this  smooth 
foil. 

August  14,  1921. 
Not  any  coupling  of  cut  flowers  within  my 
knowledge  surpasses  that  of  Clarkia  Salmon  Queen 
and  Aster  amellus  elegans.  The  gardener  in  the 
cool  climate  does  reckless  deeds  in  his  borders  in 
late  September  with  the  sure  approach  of  killing 
cold,  so  I,  with  this  in  mind,  have  pulled  bodily 
from  the  ground  one  entire  plant  of  Clarkia.  This, 
its  arching,  flowery  branches  set  with  richest 
206 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

flowers  of  warm  rose,  is  before  me  in  a  slender 
glass  vase;  its  companion  four  or  five  sprays  of 
the  cool  lavender  aster.  Every  one  who  enters  the 
room  exclaims  over  the  beauty  of  these  two  flow- 
ers together,  and  the  light  grace,  the  fascinating 
intermingling  of  the  leafy  green  sprays  of  the 
Clarkia  with  the  leafless  ones  of  the  aster  with  its 
starry  flowers  —  the  lightness,  the  beauty  of  color, 
of  this  association  are  truly  most  uncommon.  In 
the  borders  Helianthiis  orgyalis  is  blooming  nobly 
on  six  and  seven  foot  stalks  with  green  Peony 
plants  at  its  feet.  At  a  distance  from  this  brilliant 
spectacle  in  yellow,  tall  New  England  asters  waste 
their  rich  purple  color  without  the  foil  of  a  con- 
trasting hue.  AMien  these  asters  shall  have 
bloomed  we  plan  to  move  them  where  they  so 
evidently  belong  —  before  the  helianthus,  which 
now  seems  to  me  almost  beckoning  to  its  purple 
contemporaries  to  come  to  its  side. 

As  it  is  more  delicate  in  color  and  form  than  al- 
most any  other  August  flower,  so  the  hardy  Ama- 
ryllis {Lycoris  squamigera)  is  more  dreadful  in  de- 
cay than  many  others  of  its  strange  companions. 
The  notice  of  its  passing  should  always  have  as 
preface  the  word  "suddenly."  At  one  moment 
one  looks  down  upon  a  whorl  of  these  beautiful 
207 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

lilaceous  things  in  all  their  splendor  of  palest 
pinks  and  blues,  and  at  the  next,  if  no  buds  remain 
upon  the  stalk  to  prove  the  freshness  of  the  other 
flowers,  here  are  two  to  four  slender  trumpets, 
brown  and  hanging.  But,  oh,  the  beauty  of  this 
flower  for  August  in  association  with  pink  and 
white  and  lavender  flowers  and  with  the  cloudy 
sea-lavender's  rounded  wave ! 

One  reason,  I  think,  for  the  less  general  use  of 
Lycoris  in  our  gardens  is  the  probably  common 
disappointment  at  its  failure  to  bloom  at  once. 
Two  to  three  years  in  my  experience  it  takes  to 
establish  itself  so  as  to  flower  freely,  and  after  the 
third  year  the  spikes  are  more  and  more  in  num- 
ber. A  second  reason  for  the  seeming  failure  of 
the  flower  is  surely  neglect  to  mark  its  growing 
place  while  the  spring  foliage  is  still  green.  These 
leaves  disappear  utterly  in  July.  There  is  then  an 
interim  during  which  it  is  all  too  easy  for  the  im- 
pulsive or  careless  gardener  to  cultivate  that  bare 
spot  or  to  plant  something  on  it;  the  least  touch 
of  the  trowel  or  fork  being  sufficient  to  behead  the 
flower-stalk  then  forming  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

This  year  we  made  a  serious  mistake  in  cutting 
to  the  ground  a  mass  of  weedy  Achillea,  the 
208 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

pearl  growing  below  these  lilies  just  before  their 
straight,  brownish  stems  started  upward  from  the 
soil.  This  left  stalks  too  defined  as  the  buds 
opened,  and  gave  an  ugly,  leggy  appearance.  In 
vain  I  bent  down  trailing  stems  of  blooming 
Statice  latifolia  to  hide  this  defect;  the  shame  of 
their  nakedness  still  would  appear.  Time  was 
when  these  flowers  bloomed  for  me  above  Iris 
leaves,  but  the  Irises  have  now  been  moved  to 
other  places  and  the  Amaryllis  remains.  This 
flower  is  wonderfully  good  for  cutting.  It  has 
fine  lasting  qualities  in  water,  and  takes  graceful 
lines  in  a  suitable  jar  or  bowl.  At  this  moment 
there  is  an  arrangement  before  me  of  Lycoris  and 
the  short  branches  of  the  Copper  Beech,  and  good 
indeed  it  is  to  look  upon. 

And  this  mention  of  flower  arrangement  reminds 
me  of  a  gay  effect  now  on  our  dining-table  which 
has  caused  more  than  one  observant  guest  to  ex- 
claim: "What  a  capital  suggestion  for  a  flower- 
garden!"  Four  of  the  narrow,  pressed-glass  con- 
tainers in  general  use,  long,  narrow,  curved,  and 
about  two  inches  high,  with  pierced  glass  flower- 
holders  fitting  each  container  closely;  four  of 
these  are  filled  with  short-stemmed  flowers  of  these 
varieties:  Phloxes,  A.  Mercie  and  Elizabeth  Camp- 
209 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

bell,  Ageratum  Cope's  Pet,  Statice  latifolia,  and 
a  very  few  buff  zinnias,  lavender,  pink,  buff;  the 
combination  is  truly  rich,  and  the  lacelike  statice 
gives  the  low  arrangement  the  lightness  needed  by 
the  more  solid-looking  flowers. 

As  I  look  to  the  right  in  the  garden  I  catch  a 
charming  composition,  not  prearranged.  It  is  the 
level  mauve  of  Sedum  spedabile's  panicles  with 
the  bluish  grass  back  of  it,  Elymus  arenarius. 
White  geraniums,  Mme.  Recamier,  stand  before 
those  flowers.  The  dwarf  rambler,  Tausendschon 
(one  of  the  best  of  all  summer  effects),  with  leaves 
of  lavender^below,  makes  up  a  September  picture 
breathing  all  the  delicacy  of  early  summer.  And 
only  to-day  have  I  arranged  a  bowl  of  flowers 
which  seem  to  me  a  flowery  miracle  for  late  Sep- 
tember in  our  climate.  Here  were  pale,  straw- 
colored  calendulas,  phlox  A.  Mercie  and  Mrs. 
Jenkins,  velvety  Petunias  of  deep  purple,  Statice 
latifolia,  late-sown  Nigella  Miss  Jekyll,  Salvia 
azurea,  and  lavender  annual  larkspur,  with  Ai'- 
temisia  lactifloras  sprays  to  give  lightness  as 
well  as  the  statice.  All  these  from  the  garden  of 
this  date.  It  hardly  seems  believable.  Delicious, 
lovely,  as  all  the  garden  seems  and  is,  it  would  not 
be  as  lovely  if  that  delicate  creamy  sheaf  of  Ar- 
210 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

temisia  were  not  crowning  the  whole  in  its  ap- 
pointed, balanced  place. 

August  27,  1921. 

This  week  came  the  first  heavy  rain  of  this 
whole  hot,  dry  summer.  The  garden  was  so  filled 
with  flowers  that  for  the  first  time  in  all  my  gar- 
dening years  I  wished  it  less  flowery  and  more 
green.  The  storm  gave  me  my  wish.  It  bent 
down  all  phloxes,  heavy-headed  flower-branches 
of  all  sorts,  and  to-day  I  have  been  hard  at  work 
with  shears  and  two  old  bushel-baskets  with  rope 
handles.  Almost  the  twelve  baskets  of  fragments 
of  the  miraculous  feast  have  been  gathered  up,  and 
now  one  sees  a  garden  chastened,  humbled  by 
storm  and  knife,  but  still  throbbing  with  life  and 
with  colors  beautifully  brought  together  by  Del- 
phiniums' second  bloom  and  that  of  Buddleia  and 
Salvia  azurea,  which  are  commencing  to  put  forth 
flowers. 

Nothing  more  graceful  and  delicate  has  ever 
inhabited  the  garden  than  Artemisia,  with  space 
suflScient  for  its  right  development.  For  years  I 
have  adored  this  thing,  but  I  have  cramped  it. 
Now  it  stands  free  at  last  and  for  four  full  weeks 
has  given  a  glory  to  the  garden.  I  look  at  it  now, 
with  tall  lavender-blue  spikes  of  Salvia  farinacea 
211 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

(very  late  blooming  this  year)  below  it  with 
Sutton's  pale  primrose  Sunflower  aspiring  toward 
it,  with  the  ubiquitous  flaming  Zinnia  kneeling  at 
its  feet,  and  I  say  to  myself  here  is  a  garden  sub- 
ject which  may  properly  be  called  lordly,  yet  in 
its  color,  which  harmonizes  with  all,  conflicts  with 
none,  it  is  a  gentle  occupant  of  the  border. 

There  is  a  practical  use  of  the  "neat  and 
twiggy"  Salvia  v.  nemorosa.  It  makes  the  per- 
fect support  in  late  August  and  September  for 
the  long,  sticky  branches  of  purple  petunias. 
These,  with  a  slender  stake  or  two  set  into  the 
Salvia,  mount  the  green  boughs  of  the  sage,  below 
which  is  a  velvety  planting  of  Stachys.  This  in 
turn  has  before  it  two  plants  of  the  little  new 
Mignon  Dahlia,  whose  inch-and-a-half-wide  flowers 
shine  out  like  stars  against  the  rest.  The  aconites 
are  yet  to  appear.  Salvia  azurea  just  commencing. 

It  is  one  of  those  days  known  to  all  gardeners  as 
a  "growing"  day.  The  atmosphere  is  almost  as 
moist  as  the  ground  and  the  sun  is  intensely  hot. 
And  now  on  the  threshold  of  autumn  I  begin  to 
think  of  what  is  yet  to  bloom.  Here  are  orange 
zinnias  of  unparalleled  brilliance,  from  Truffaut's 
seed;  here  is  a  clear,  pale-yellow  calendula  which 
ties  the  orange  to  the  other  hues  in  an  easy  way. 
Quantities  of  white  Balsams  are  blooming  on  tall 
212 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

stems;  indeed,  they  are  carpeting  the  grass  below 
them  with  the  white  of  their  fallen  flowers.  Physo- 
stegia  is  in  full  flower,  late  white  phloxes  also; 
Sedum  spectabile  is  just  opening  those  level  clusters 
of  its  flowers,  and  Salvia  farina cea  is  lovely  with 
blue-lavender  twisting  lines  of  color.  Pink  mal- 
lows are  everywhere.  The  glorious  white  Althea, 
William  R.  Smith,  is  in  bloom  against  Artemisia 
lactiflora,  and  the  violet  Verbena  venosa  has  just 
opened  its  first  flowers  below  masses  of  Elymus 
arenarius,  over  which  Buddleias  are  hanging  many 
terminal  promises  of  purple  color.  Buddleias,  as 
I  have  said,  are  yet  to  come;  so  also  is  Wilson's 
Aconite  with  its  rich  violet.  Ageratum  is  thickly 
strewn  along  garden  edges  and  so  are  the  hyacinth- 
flowered,  mauve  candytuft,  the  white  alyssum, 
and  the  delicious  Phlox  Drummondii  Isabellina, 
violet  petunias  are  making  their  presence  felt,  as 
is  also  some  late-sown  purple  annual  larkspur. 
The  end  of  this  garden  this  year  will  be  all  gold 
and  purple,  as  a  season's  end  should  be. 

Septembers,  1921. 

Gleams  of  late  sunlight  bring  into  bright  relief 

against  the  clipped  ramps  of  green  flanking  the 

garden-steps  a  great  round  cluster  of  Tausend- 

schon  Roses  —  thirty -four  on  a  stem  —  rising  above 

213 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

the  gray  leaves  of  lavender  and  the  cool  pinks  of 
Sedum  spedabile.  Phlox  of  a  deeper  pink  is  bloom- 
ing above  these  pallid  flowers  and  leaves,  and 
higher  still  a  Buddleia  is  just  beginning  to  bloom. 
As  one  turns  to  the  left,  looking  from  the  little 
platform,  here  are  countless  small  Mignon  Dahlias 
blooming  in  the  air  above  the  most  vivid  orange 
zinnias  I  have  ever  seen.  Looking  down  another 
flowery  vista  I  see  lavender  phloxes  just  over  the 
low  hedge,  white  and  rich  pink  ones  beyond,  while 
the  whole  foreground  is  filled  by  two-foot  flowers 
of  the  second-time  blooming  Delphinium.  Be- 
yond this  whole  picture  rise  spires  of  pink  mallow, 
and  fronds,  as  one  might  say,  of  Artemisia  ladi- 
flora  in  full  beauty.  One  of  the  nicest  groupings 
now  adorning  the  garden  is  of  this  same  Arte- 
misia, with  the  warm  buff  Zinnia  Isabellina,  be- 
yond it  Phlox  Von  Lassberg's  white  flowers,  be- 
yond this,  and  twining,  oh,  so  delightfully  among 
zinnia  and  Artemisia,  are  Salvia  farinacea's  charm™ 
ing  silvery -la  vender  spikes. 

The  zinnia  just  mentioned,  Isabellina,  is  cer- 
tainly a  garden  "find."  I  used  it  this  year  back  of 
Ageratum  Cope's  Pet,  instead  of  the  rose-pink 
zinnia  which  gave  last  summer  a  glowing  border 
back  of  the  same  ageratum.  (This  was  all  along 
the  upper  garden- walk.)  As  I  write  I  look  up 
214 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

from  my  paper  and  see  this  pale  coppery  zinnia 
blooming  superbly  between  the  dark  leaves  of  the 
French  lilacs  which  stand  along  the  walk,  and  here 
and  there  allowing  thick  clusters  of  the  ageratum's 
lavender  to  be  seen  below  the  zinnia  flowers.  It 
is  not  easy  to  describe  the  color  of  the  zinnia,  but 
I  would  say  that  it  has  almost  the  varying  tones 
of  that  lovely  tulip,  The  Fawn.  A  pinkish  tone 
overlies  the  buff  of  the  flower  and  gives  it  what 
might  be  called  a  tawny  effect.  No  color  arrange- 
ment for  a  border  has  more  delicacy,  more  of  a 
subtle  quality  than  this  one  just  described.  The 
colors  are  of  a  softness  indescribable. 

But  another  little  pathway  planting  I  must 
touch  upon  and  that  is  a  new  note  struck  this 
year,  along  the  very  short  brick  walk  between 
hedges  of  clipped  Spirea  vanhouttei.  Here  that 
rose,  Alheric  Barbier,  is  rapidly  growling  toward  the 
festoon  state  originally  planned  for  it,  and  the 
connection  of  this  border  planting  with  that  just 
described  is  this:  that  here,  next  the  brick  on 
either  side,  is  another  ageratum  far  richer  in  color 
than  Cope's  Pet.  This  is  Ageratum  fraseri,  and  it 
has  not  before  been  used  in  this  garden.  It  is  not 
so  tall  as  the  paler  ageratum,  but  its  flowers  are 
much  larger.  Here  it  makes  a  most  interesting 
color-pattern  along  the  walk,  especially  since  above 
215 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

and  among  it  is  lightly,  brightly  blooming  Phlox 
drummondii  Chamois  Rose,  while  the  whole  little 
gay  flower  embroidery  lies  on  a  groundwork  of 
young  Myosotis  foliage  from  seeds  sown  in  July 
for  next  May's  beauty  with  tulips.  Ageratum 
fraseri  I  got  as  plants  from  Richard  Vincent  and 
set  them  out  in  early  June;  at  the  same  time  we 
sowed  two  rows  of  the  phlox  seed  back  of  the 
ageratum,  and  almost  immediately,  as  it  seemed 
to  me,  the  two  were  in  bloom  and  a  small  but 
dazzling  surprise  resulted.  For  as  one  turns  into 
this  walk,  through  a  wooden  arch  hung  with  roses, 
he  looks  for  no  flowers  within  the  green  walls  of 
hedge,  and  the  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  of  charming 
pink  and  lavender  color  provoke  exclamations  of 
pleasure. 

In  that  still  soft  radiance  of  September,  sitting 
below  the  two  pippin-trees  on  the  small  brick 
platform,  I  see  before  my  delighted  eye  color  un- 
speakably fresh  and  brilliant.  Due  to  delayed 
frosts,  on  September  19,  as  I  write  there  is  across 
the  garden  a  rich  effect  of  color  made  up  of  these 
flowers:  Stachys  lanata,  first  and  lowest;  violet  pe- 
tunias, above  this,  held  up  by  the  green-foliaged 
stems  of  Salvia  virgata  nemorosa;  to  the  left  a 
lovely  flame-colored  zinnia;  back  of  that  achillea 
in  second  bloom.  Statice  Silver  Cloud  is  in  fine 
216 


GARDEN    NOTES    IN    1921 

lavender  bloom;  beyond  the  petunias  and  above 
all  these  rises  a  rose-pink  phlox,  also  flowering  for 
the  second  time;  and  in  a  bed  farther  away,  lifting 
the  gaze  to  Buddleias  and  Aconites  in  kingly  color. 
Certainly  there  has  not  been  before  me  in  this 
garden  a  softer  effect  of  flowers  and  foliage  than 
the  one  on  this  September  evening.  Buddleia, 
very  low  and  straggling,  throws  its  bamboo-like 
leaves  out  from  a  central  root.  This  foliage  is  of 
the  softest  gray-green;  beside  it  falls  a  cascade  of 
Elymus  arejiarius,  adding  a  bluer  tone.  All  these 
soft  gray-blues  are  shot  through  by  two  or  three 
stout  zinnia  plants  in  full  bloom  and  the  color  of 
these  double  flowers  shading  as  they  do  from 
pinkish  cream  to  a  soft  yet  deep  old  rose  at  the 
outer  and  lower  edges  of  those  domes  of  petals,  is 
supremely  lovely  with  the  foliage  encircling  it. 
WTiat  a  provision  are  such  sights  as  these  against 
that  time 


'When  yellow  leaves,  or  none,  or  few,  do  hang 
Upon  those  boughs  which  shake  against  the  cold." 


As,  on  rereading  them,  I  think  over  these  notes, 
there  comes  to  mind  a  paragraph  from  "Studies 
in  Gardening"  which  seems  to  set  forth  better 
217 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

than  any  before  the  reason  for  the  making  of  good 
gardens: 

'There  is  something  in  the  order  and  quiet  of  a 
beautiful  formal  garden,  in  its  perfect  reconcile- 
ment of  nature  and  man,  which  gives  one  a  greater 
love  of  life,  and  this  is  just  the  same  feeling  that 
one  gets  from  the  enjoyment  of  a  beautiful  house. 
Both  seem  to  prove  that  man  is  not  a  mere  de- 
facer  of  the  world,  that  if  he  chooses  he  can  add 
beauty  to  it,  even  in  fulfilling  his  own  wants,  like 
the  flowers  themselves.  The  best  art  is  nearer  to 
nature  than  any  attempt  to  imitate  her,  because 
it  comes  into  being,  like  her  beauties,  for  some 
purpose  outside  itself.' 

And  while  I  would  not  have  those  who  read 
believe  that  I  consider  the  small  garden,  which 
has  been  the  subject  of  this  last  year's  notes,  a 
beautiful  garden  —  for  I  am  only  too  sensitive  to 
its  shortcomings  and  eager  for  its  improvement 
year  by  year  —  I  may  be  forgiven  for  the  great 
pleasure  I  take  in  sharing  with  them  the  following 
brief  description  of  the  garden  written  by  Miss 
Sarah  W.  Hendrie  for  the  "Bulletin"  of  the  Garden 
Club  of  America,  and  given  here  exactly  as  there 
published  by  the  kind  permission  of  all  concerned. 


218 


XIV 


THE  GARDEN  AT  ORCHARD 
HOUSE 


Really,  to  create  a  garden,  it  is  necessary  to  fling  away 
ambition,  social  pleasures,  to  reduce  natural  responsibil- 
ities to  a  minimum,  and  if  you  are  a  man,  to  retire  on  a 
certain  income.  If  you  are  a  woman,  then  marry  an  artist, 
an  author,  or  a  clergyman,  and  make  it  clear  to  him  that 
your  garden  is  to  be  the  central  idea  of  both  your  lives, 
stipulate  for  an  adequate  allowance  to  meet  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  autumn  catalogues,  select  your  friends,  dis- 
card your  acquaintances,  and  set  to  work. 

— Maby  Anstell,  "The  Happy  Garden." 


XIV 

THE  GARDEN  AT  ORCHARD 
HOUSE 

BY   S.    W.    HENDRIE 

As  a  member  of  the  Garden  Club  of  Michigan, 
-^  ^  it  was  with  eager  anticipation  that  I  went  to 
Orchard  House,  to  see  the  garden  of  Mrs.  Francis 
King,  and  describe  it  for  the  Bulletin.  It  was 
just  ten  years  ago  that  she  inspired  us  to  start  a 
garden  chib  and  became  its  first  president.  Since 
then  she  has  continued  to  stimulate  our  interest 
and  arouse  our  imaginations  with  reports  of  im- 
portant work  being  done,  news  of  new  and  rare 
plants  and  fascinating  (and  successful)  color  com- 
binations. 

As  the  train  neared  Alma,  I  began  to  doubt  my 
wisdom  in  coming.  Mrs.  King's  garden  is  a  spring 
garden  par  excellence,  and  one  which  should  be 
described  at  its  best !  Any  garden  at  the  end  of 
August,  1921,  after  our  terrible  summer  and  long 
drought  should  look  badly, —  what  would  I  find  ^ 
We  drove  through  shady  streets  up  to  a  rather 
221 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

English-looking  house  and  walking  up  the  broad 
brick  path,  with  its  border  of  low  grapes  trained 
on  chains,  one  visualized  the  spring  planting  of 
bulbs,  which  she  so  delightfully  describes.  Now 
the  form  of  the  grape  leaves,  and  the  fine  foliage 
mass  of  two  Viburnum  carlesii  flanking  the  step, 
take  the  place  of  the  earlier,  more  colorful  pic- 
tures. 

In  the  living-room  one's  eye  was  immediately 
caught  and  held  by  a  tall  jar  of  Lycoris  squamigera 
(amaryllis  halli)  which  introduced  the  dominant 
note  of  the  whole  garden  beyond.  I  say  domi- 
nant, because,  though  at  this  time  of  year  a  phlox 
garden,  with  only  four  strong  groups  of  this  lovely 
amaryllis  in  the  four  central  beds,  yet  everything 
else  seems  auxiliary,  planted  to  show  off  and  em- 
phasize its  delicate  beauty  of  color. 

In  one  bed  the  tall  stiff  stems  with  their  crown 
of  blue-shaded  pink  flowers,  stood  out  from  among 
feathery  mauve  clumps  of  Statice  latifolia.  White 
phlox  gave  body  to  the  background,  echoed  by  a 
heavy  mass  of  a  clear  white  geranium  at  the  front 
of  the  bed,  while  between  them  were  zinnias, 
flesh  pink  to  a  dull,  almost  purple  rose,  Salvia 
farinacea,  a  velvet  purple  petunia,  and  at  the  edge, 
Stachys  and  Ageratum.  Seen  beyond  this  bed  of 
222 


THE  GARDEN  AT  ORCHARD  HOUSE 

mauves  and  pinks,  a  touch  of  a  deep  rich  almost 
magenta  phlox  gave  meaning  to  the  whole.  Here 
you  have  very  pale  pink  merging  through  mauves 
and  lavenders  into  deep  purple,  a  range  of  color 
intensiiSed,  yet  brought  into  harmony,  by  the 
difference  in  texture  of  both  flowers  and  foliage. 
Without  the  gray  of  the  Stachys  and  Salvia  much 
of  the  ethereal  quality  of  the  planting  would  be 
lost. 

The  same  amaryllis  with  echinops  in  the  back- 
ground, phlox  Antonin  Mercie,  Mme,  Paul  Dutrie, 
and  Elizabeth  Campbell,  and  the  roselike  flowers 
of  one  of  Sutton's  Camellia-flowered  balsams  as 
foreground,  is  seen  against  the  varying  blue  and 
gray-greens  of  Lonicera  and  Abies  concolor. 

Another  combination  of  Mrs.  King's  favorite 
blue-greens  and  pale-pinks,  showing  a  particularly 
good  variety  of  form,  was  a  shaggy  rose-colored 
poppy,  with  its  decorative  seed-pods,  sweet  lav- 
ender with  stiff  silvery  foliage,  fleshy  Sedum  spec- 
tabile,  not  quite  in  bloom,  Buddleia  with  darker 
foliage  of  the  same  tone,  and,  used  just  where  an 
accent  was  needed,  the  blue  lyme  grass,  Elymus 
arenarius.  This  planting  was  near  the  edge  of  the 
garden  overshadowed  by  apple-trees. 

For  those  who  love  the  yellows  and  bronzes 
223 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

rather  than  the  cooler  colors,  there  was  a  planting 
of  flaming  orange  zinnias,  spiral  mignonette,  and 
(this  one  of  nature's  happy  accidents)  the  red 
bronze  seed-pods  of  nigella  in  the  foreground. 

A  phlox  garden,  white  and  pink,  lavender  and 
rose-color,  where  one  forgets  the  phlox,  save  as  it 
gives  a  needed  solidity  of  form  and  hue,  such  is 
Mrs.  King's  garden.  The  feeling  of  form  is  en- 
hanced by  an  enclosing  hedge,  almost  as  broad  as 
high  and  as  smooth  and  solid  as  a  wall.  Behind 
it  is  the  real  garden  background  —  big  shrubs  on 
one  side  and  on  the  other,  and,  at  the  far  end  of  the 
garden,  a  grape-covered  trellis  with  arched  gate- 
ways, which  in  June  are  a  glory  of  climbing  roses. 
Through  one  of  these  arches  is  the  service-yard, 
while  through  the  other  up  a  few  steps,  on  a  higher 
level,  are  the  picking-garden  and  trial-garden,  made 
gay  with  borders  of  annuals.  Here,  at  the  end  of 
the  path  which  forms  a  continuous  vista  from  the 
loggia,  is  a  quaint  garden-house,  backed  by  silver 
poplars,  and  presided  over  by  fanciful  wooden 
birds  which  give  it  quite  a  foreign  air.  Opposite 
the  entrance  to  the  service-yard  a  brick-paved 
circle  serves  as  a  transition  from  garden  to  lawn. 
Benches  here  under  two  apple-trees  make  a  shady 
retreat  from  the  glare  of  an  August  sun. 
224 


THE  GARDEN  AT  ORCHARD  HOUSE 

Turning  from  the  garden  with  its  hint  of  coming 
autumn,  in  budding  clematis  and  aconite,  one 
looks  out  across  the  undulating  lawn,  shadowed  by 
the  old  trees  which  give  Orchard  House  its  name, 
and  visualizes  the  spring,  for  here  are  the  collec- 
tions of  lilacs,  flowering  apples,  cherries,  peonies, 
and  other  choice  shrubs.  One  boundary  is  planted 
with  the  newer  Japanese  quinces  —  scarlet  to 
palest  yellow.  Under  the  flowering  trees  and  in 
all  the  shrub  borders,  many  kinds  of  early  bulbs, 
crocus,  scilla,  daffodil,  are  followed  by  collections 
of  cottage  and  Darwin  tulips,  glorifying  the  or- 
chard in  May. 

Perhaps,  instead  of  describing  color  combina- 
tions and  isolated  pictures,  I  should  tell  you  of 
what  the  paths  are  made  and  how  many  beds  make 
up  the  formal  design.  But  the  things  which  char- 
acterize Mrs.  King's  garden  are  not  bricks  and 
mortar,  nor  geometric  forms.  Well-thought-out 
color  groupings,  the  clever  choice  of  form,  shown 
in  the  juxtaposition  of  feathery  and  solid  masses, 
the  predominance  of  silver-gray  and  blue-green 
foliage,  the  use  of  annuals  (be  it  tall  Lavatera  or 
dwarf  Ageratum),  the  right  one  for  its  place  —  re- 
straint in  the  use  of  plants,  for,  given  her  knowl- 
edge, what  a  temptation  to  use  many  new  and 
225 


THE    WELL-CONSIDERED    GARDEN 

'   .  .  .  ' 

different  sorts  instead  of  the  comparatively  few 

kinds  found  in  her  garden !    These  are  what  one 
notices  and  remembers. 

A  feeling  for  form  and  color,  intelligent  choice, 
the  power  of  restraint,  go  far  toward  making  a 
good  garden  —  but  wherein  lies  charm  ?  A  hint 
came  to  me  as  I  was  taking  these  notes.  Sitting 
where  I  could  see  both  garden  and  orchard,  my 
eye  was  caught  by  an  old  temple  bell  dangling 
from  a  branch  just  waiting  for  an  alighting  bird 
to  set  it  ringing.  Where  did  it  come  from  ?  What 
had  it  not  seen.?  My  mind  wandered  across  the 
garden  to  the  loggia,  where  Mrs.  King  was  sort- 
ing her  huge  morning  mail.  The  beginning  for  my 
notes,  "All  American  garden  lovers  know  Orchard 
House, "  would  not  do  at  all  —  the  classification 
"American"  is  too  narrow,  for  England,  France, 
Spain,  Italy  constantly  contribute  to  the  widened 
horizon  of  this  comparatively  remote  garden  at 
Alma,  Michigan. 


PBOPttRTY  UBRAKf 

N.  C.  State  CoUem 


226 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abies  coxcolor,  223 

Achillea  Ptarmica,  23,  32,  34;  pearl, 

50 
Acidanthera  bicolor,  177 
Aconite,  217,  225;  Wilsonii,  bluish- 
violet,  193,  213 
Acquilegias,  apricot-colored,  204 
Ageratum,    blue,   70,   71,   73,    222; 

Stella  Gurney,  148,  152,  156,  175; 

Cope's  Pet,  210,  214;  fraseri,  215, 

216 
Altheas,  95;  William  R.  Smith,  213 
Alyssum,    30;    saxatile,    104;    sul- 

phureum,  132;  hardy,  130 
Amaryllis,  Lycoris  squamigera,  207- 

209,    222;    Achillea,    208,    209; 

echinops,  223 
American  Gardens,  Lowell,  136 
Anchusa  Italica,  47;  Dropmore,  69, 

112,     141,     168;     myosotidiflora, 

blue,  190 
Anemones,  Japanese,  151,  198 
Antirrhinum,  Purple  King,  177 
Apple,  Bellflower,  196,  225 
Aquilegia  chrysantha,  see  columbine 
Arabis,  10,  30,  31,  49,  60 
Araott,  S.,  99 
Artemisia,  211;  lactiflora,  205,  210, 

213,  214 
Aster,   hardy,   36,   37,   43,   44,   74; 

Ostrich  Plume,  146;  James  Ganly, 

148,  177;  amellus  elegans,  206,  207 
Aubrietia,  10,  92,  124;  with  tulips, 

140 

Baby's  Bbeath,  see  gypsophila 
Balsams,    salmon-pink,    110,    151; 
white,  212,  223 


Begonia,  10 

Blanket  flower,  see  gaillardia 

Bleeding-heart  (dicentra),  18 

Bloodroot,  16,  50 

Book  of  the  Peony,  The,  Mrs.  Hard- 
ing, 202 

Border,  double,  131 

Bowles,  E.  A.,  88,  96,  99 

Box,  green,  in  flower  arrangement, 
183 

Buddleia,  176,  211,  213,  217,  223 

Bulletin,  Garden  Club  of  America, 
Sarah  W.  Hendrie,  quoted,  221- 


Calendulas,  Orange  King,  Sulphur 
Queen,  42;  orange,  184;  straw- 
colored,  210;  pale  yellow,  212 

Campanula,  hardy,  32;  Die  Fee,  45; 
pyramidalis,  45,  48,  110;  persici- 
folia,  159;  lactiflora,  205     ' 

Candytuft,  hardy,  11 

Canterbury  bells,  31,  32,  46,  48-50, 
109,  111,  161 

Cedar,  199 

Century  Magazine,  The,  67 

Chamomile,  35 

Cherries,  225 

Chrysanthemum,  Garza,  153;French, 
172 

Chrysanthemum  Society  of  France, 
7,  15 

Cinerarias,  10 

Clarkia  elegans,  36;  Salmon  Queen, 
206,  207 

Clematis,  225;  purple,  13;  recta,  61; 
cream- white,  205 

Color  chart,  15,  193,  202 


229 


INDEX 


Color  effects,  Ruskin  quoted,  1,  2; 
use  of  trial  garden  for,  53 

Color  in  the  Flower  Garden,  Jekyll, 
13;  quoted,  14,  15 

Columbine,  early,  see  Aquilegia; 
chrysantha,  27,  32;  yellow,  45; 
white,  hybrid,  108;  with  iris,  141 

Cosmos,  48;  early-flowering,  178 

Cotoneaster,  199 

Cottage  gardens,  195 

Crambe  cordifoUa,  11,  54;  orien- 
talis,  33 

Crocus,  225;  purpureus,  17,  79-81; 
Maximillian,  78,  95;  Reine 
Blanche,  79,  82,  94,  95;  Lamium 
macula  turn  collecting,  88;  Mont 
Blanc,  93,  95;  Mme.  Mina,  93, 
95,  96;  Susianus,  97;  Sieberi,  97; 
Korolkowi,  98;  "Scotch,"  98; 
Tommasinianus,  98;  May  and 
Dorothy,  98;  Kathleen  Parlow,  99 

Cynoglossum,  blue,  Pictum  or  creti- 
cum,  191,  192 

Daffodil,  185,  223;  double,  16; 
cream- white,  43;  Jacobs's  list,  58, 
60;  trumpets,  yellow,  white,  and 
bicolor,  58;  yellow  perianths, 
pheasant  eyes,  doubles,  and  bunch- 
flowered,  59;  Eyebright,  59,  60, 
162;  Firefly  and  Elvh-a,  59,  60; 
with  peonies,  87;  true  place  for, 
139;  Elvira,  Noble,  and  Chal- 
lenger, 186,  187;  rock.  White 
Lady,  viola  apricot,  197 

Dahlias,  182;  mignon,  212 

Daisies,  common,  32,  159;  Shasta,  33 

Delphiniums,  205,  210,  211,  213,  214; 
blue,  10,  11,  13;  pale-blue,  32; 
Belladonna,  33;  Cantab,  33,  160; 
chinensis,  34,  46,  72;  dark-blue, 
159;  La  France,  159,  160;  Mme. 
Violet  Geslin,  160;  Kelway's 
Lovely,  160;  Persimmon,  160; 
Statuaire  Rude,  161;  Alake,  161; 
Capri,  Moerheimi,  162 


Deutzia  Lemoineli,  107 

Dianthus,  36;  hardy.  Her  Majesty, 

43;  solferino  coespitosa,  200 
Dicentra  eximia,  mauve,  190 
Dogtooth  violet,  77 
Dragonhead,  47 

Egan,  W.  C,  9,  196 

Elder,  common,  21 

Elymus,  arenarius,  blue,  37,  39,  210, 

213,  217,  223;  with  gladioli,  149 
Eremuri,  243;  Erigeron,  243 
Eryngium,  163 

Farb,    Bertrand    H.,    his    list    of 

Oriental  poppies,  167 
Florists   Exchange,  The,  184 
Florists'  Review,  The,  184 
Flower  arrangement,  181,  183,  184 
Flower  cutting,  181,  182 
Flowers  of  the  Al'pine  Valleys,  Flem- 

well,  77 
Foliage  in  flower  arrangement,  183, 

184 
Forbes,  54 

Forget-me-not,  see  Myosotis 
Foxgloves,  32;  perennial,  159 
Fruit-tree,  dwarf,  72 
Funkias,  11 

Gaillardia,  21,  22 

Galtonias,  145 

Garden  Club  of  America,  Bulletin, 
quoted,  221-226 

Garden  Club  of  Rlinois,  196 

Garden  Club  of  Lookout  Moimtain, 
Tennessee,  185 

Garden,  formal,  11;  experiments 
with,  65;  clipped  trees  in  a,  68, 
195;  trial,  53-57;  of  phloxes,  55; 
"wild,"  67;  Mrs.  Tyson's  at  Ber- 
wick, Me.,  67;  Miss  Willmott's, 
Warley,  Eng.,  72;  Mr.  Chas.  A. 
Piatt's,  Saginaw,  Mich.,  73;  repe- 
tition in,  74;  Mrs.  King's  at  Alma, 
Mich.,  221-226 


230 


INDEX 


Garden  of  Ignorance,  The,  Mrs.  Cran, 
quoted.  192,  193 

Garden,  The,  Rev.  Joseph  Jacob, 
quoted,  58 

Garden  Magazine,  The,  Miller  quot- 
ed, S3 

Garden  Month  by  Month,  The,  Sedg- 
wick, 15 

Gardeners'  Chronicle,  134 

Genus  Iris,  The,  Dyke,  202,  203 

Geranium,  23;  Beaute  Parfaite,  151; 
grandiflorum,  purple,  200;  Mme. 
Recamier,  white,  210,  222 

Gladiolus,  185;  Baron  Hulot,  7,  28, 
153,  172;  purple,  13,  28,  48,  69; 
William  Falconer,  37,  69,  155; 
Niagara  and  Panama,  145,  147, 
148;  Badenia,  146,  174;  Louise, 
146;  Herada,  with  salvia  and 
phlox,  146,  147;  Roselle.  147; 
Orange  Glory,  147;  America,  147, 
155,  172;  Peace,  Dawn,  and 
Afterglow,  149-151;  Taconia,  Phil- 
adelphia, and  Evolution,  151;  Ro- 
sella,  153;  Senator  VoUand,  153; 
Buchanan,  Snowbird,  La  Luna, 
California,  and  Princess  Altiere, 
154;  Sulphur  King,  155;  Kun- 
derd's  Glory,  155;  Mrs.  Frank 
Pendleton,  Jr.,  155,  171;  Dawn, 
162;  primulinus  hybrids,  165, 
170;  display,  166.  170 

Gladiolus  Grower,  The  Modern,  146 

Gladiolus  Society,  American,  7,  146 

Grape,  222 

Gypsophila,  11;  annual,  32;  pani- 
culata,  32,  33,  50,  164,  169; 
elegans.  73;  in  bud,  110;  in  mass, 
162;  double,  165 

Happy  England,  Allingham,  77 
Hedges,  privet  ibota,  35,  204,  206, 

224 
Helianthus  orgj-alis,  177,  207 
Heliotrope,  7,  182;  deep  purple,  34, 

05,  70;  dark,  156 


Hepatica,  77,  79 

Heuchera,  11;  sanguinea,  34,  55-57, 

127 
Hollyhocks,  10,  11;  lemon  and  white, 

35,  50,  66,  72;  rose-pink,  163 
Honeysuckles,  bush,  107.  Ill,  184, 

185 
Hound's  Tongue,  see  Cj'noglossum 
Hyacinth,  Wood,  3,  8;  Holbein,  20, 

83;  Heavenly  Blue  grape,  28.  43, 

78,  92,  93;  Lord  Derby,  80,  81, 

83;  blue,  193 
Hydrangea,  white,  11,  126,  164 

Iberis  Gibraltarica,  SO,  50 

L-is,  5,  209;  German,  Enghsh,  Si- 
berian, and  Dutch.  5;  reticulata, 
14,  79;  dwarf,  18;  Germanica,  19, 
48,  66,  135,  141;  pallida,  110,  127, 
132,  136;  English,  111;  Kaemp- 
feri,  132,^133;  Mauve  Queen,  132, 
133;  Japanese,  5,  133;  Crusader. 
139;  Sherwin- Wright,  yellow,  200; 
ochroleuca,  202,  203;  Wilson's, 
pale  yellow,  203 

Jacob,  Reverend  Joseph,  quoted,  91, 

92 
Japanese  quince,  80,  83.  225 
Jasmine,  yellow  Southern,  264 
Jekyll,  Miss,  quoted.  13-15;  on  use 

of   sea-holly,    22,    57,    184,    199; 

list  of  tulips,  86 
Jonquils,  Campernelle,  30 

Labels,  62,  185 

Lamium  maculatum.  85 

Larkspur,  annual.  12.  32,  261;  Salvia 

patens,  46;  see  also  Delphinium 
Lavender,  sweet,  223 
Letson,  B.  F.,  on  flower  cutting  and 

arrangement,  181-184 
Lilacs,    18,    182,   225;   with   tulips, 

140 
Lilies,  white,  10;  orange,  10;  Lillum 

elegans,  21;  longiflorum,  33;  can- 


231 


INDEX 


didum,  35,  48,  50,  66;  plantain,  73; 

orange,  superbum,  170 
Lily-of-the-VaUey,  197 
Live  Oaks,  165 
Lonicera,  108,  223 
Love-in-the-mist,  36 
Lucas,  E.  v.,  quoted,  162 
Lupines,  127 
Lyme  grass,  see  Elymus 

Mahonia,  16,  83 

Mallow,  14 

Mertensia  Virginica,  125 

Michaelmas  Daisy,  see  Aster 

Mignonette,  182,  224 

Mullein,  72 

Muscari,  see  Hyacinth 

Myosotis,  19,  29,  189,  193,  216 
early,  28;  dissitiflora,  43;  Sutton's 
Perfection  and  Sutton's  Royal 
Blue,  43,  124,  190,  191;  hardy,  84, 
93,  132-135,  138;  Barr's  Alpine, 
blue,  190,  191 

Narcissus,  184;  Orange  Phoenix,  16 
poeticus,  gardenia,  16;  Emperor, 
cynosure,  41;  listed,  58;  among 
peonies,  87 

Nemesia,  blue,  13 

Nigella,  Miss  Jekyll,  210 

Orchard  House,  The  Garden  at, 
221-226 

Pansy,  4 

Peake,  192 

Peas,  purple,  sweet,  13;  Countess 
Spencer,  27;  everlasting,  47;  Stor- 
ing Stent,  165;  lavender,  184;  Mrs. 
Tom  Jones,  blue,  193,  194 

Pentstemon,  163 

Peonies,  31,  32,  49,  50,  57,  88,  185, 
200.  207,  225;  Mme.  Emile  Galle, 
132,  159,  160;  Milton  Hill,  Reine 
Hortense,  pink,  200;  Mme.  August 
Dessert,  Mme.  Jules  Dessert,  En- 


chanteresse,  Eugene  Verdier, 
Raoul  Dessert,  Livingston,  Du- 
chesse  de  Nemours,  Philippe 
Rivoire,  201;  Walter  Faxon,  Mrs. 
Harding,  202 

Petunia,  7,  212,  213,  216,  217;  single, 
13;  velvet-purple,  146;  violet,  194 

Philadelphus,  coronarius  and  grandi- 
florus,  198;  white,  199 

Phloxes,  214,  222,  224;  perennial,  3, 
4,  61;  annual,  11;  purple,  13;  Pan- 
theon, 22,  36,  61,  163, 175;  Eugene 
Danzanvilliers,  4,  23,  34,  61,  148; 
Drummond,  Chamois  Rose,  31,  34, 
37,  69;  Antonin  Mercie,  4,  6,  61, 
163,  176,  177;  Lord  Rayleigh,  4, 
6,  32,  34,  61,  70;  Fiancee,  36;  pink, 
43;  white,  50;  dwarf,  54;  garden  of, 
55;  Aurore  Boreale,  23,  36,  68; 
Von  Lassberg,  4,  23,  36,  71; 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  71,  176;  R.  P. 
Struthers,  61,  163;  Coquelicot, 
23,  36,  62,  163,  175;  Fernando 
Cortez,  22,  36,  62,  69;  Tapis  Blanc, 
72,  163;  Von  Hochberg,  148;  su- 
bulata,  83,  84;  divaricata,  84,  124; 
decussata,  149;  Drummondii  lutea 
with  gladiolus,  146;  Goliath,  173; 
Rhynstrom,  175;  Von  Dedem, 
175;  Braga,  175;  Widar,  175;  di- 
varicata canadensis,  188;  rose- 
colored,  194;  Arendsii,  white,  205; 
foliage,  205;  A.  Mercie,  209,  210, 
223;  Elizabeth  Campbell,  209,  223 ; 
Mrs.  Jenkins,  210;  Drummondii 
Isabellina,  213;  Von  Lassberg, 
white,  214;  Chamois  Rose,  216; 
rose-pink,  217;  white,  222;  Mme. 
Paul  Dutrie,  223 

Physostegia  (Virginica  rosea),  6,  36, 
47;  white,  69;  rosy,  154 

Pinks,  31;  annual  and  hardy,  32; 
scented,  white,  44 

Planting,  balanced,  68 

Platycodons,  48;  grandiflorum  al- 
bum, 166;  pearly- white,  178 


232 


INDEX 


Plumbago  capensis,  pale  lavender, 
188,  189; red,  189 

Poker  flower,  73 

Poppy,  34,  182;  White  Swan,  42;  Ice- 
land, 42;  Oriental,  44,  127,  128, 
166,  199,  204;  double,  pink,  112, 
105;  Princess  Victoria  Louise,  167; 
combinations  of,  168,  169;  see  Fan- 
list,  167;  Shirley,  167;  Mahony 
and  Rose  Queen,  108;  salmon-pink. 
Cerise  Beauty,  200;  rose-colored, 
223 

Primrose,  4;  Munstead,  30,  49,  84; 
pale-yellow,  124 

Puschkinia,  81,  82,  107 

Pyrethrum,  rose,  31;  single,  159 

Pyrus  Japonica,  82 

Quince,  Japanese,  80,  83,  225 

Repertoire  de  Couleurs,  7,  15 

Rhododendron,  3 

Ribbon  grass,  124 

Ribbon  in  flower  arrangement,  184, 
185 

Rodgersia,  33 

Roses,  3,  182;  Frau  Karl  Druschki, 
27;  climbing,  34;  yellow,  44;  ram- 
blers, crimson,  3,  10;  baby,  34, 
49,  62;  yellow,  44;  Lady  Gay,  34, 
62;  Excelsa,  62;  Rosa  Nitida,  110; 
Wichuraiana,  20;  spinosissima, 
141,  196,  197;  with  gladioli,  149; 
Annchen  Mueller,  160;  Conrad  F. 
Mayer,  163;  double  flat  white,  199; 
Tausendschon,  204,  210,  213;  Al- 
beric  Barbier,  215 

Ruskin,  quoted,  3,  80 

Salpiglossis,  11,  13;  Faust,  148 
Salvia,  223;  blue,  13;  patens,  30,  37, 
46;  farinacea,  lavender-blue,  37, 
211,  213,  214,  222;  Azurea,  146, 
153,  210-212;  Sclarea,  205;  vir- 
gata  nemorosa,  212,  216 
Scabiosa  Japonica,  34 


Scilla  Sibirica,  blue,  16,  17,  79,  94, 

225;  campanulata,  28,   104,   108, 

109;  Excelsior,  141 
Sea-holly,  22,  36,  62,  162,  163,  164 
Sea-lavender,  see  Statice 
Seasons   in   a   Flower  Garden,    The, 

Shelton,  15 
Sedum  spectabile,  210,  213.  214,  223 
Shasta  daisies,  23,  33 
Snapdragon,  35,  146 
Snowball,  Japan,  73 
Snowdrop,  50 
Spireas     Thunbergii,     84;     Astilbe 

Arendsii,  Die  Walkiire,  132,  136; 

Van  Houteii,  137,  215 
Spring  beauties,  77 
Stachys,  212,  222,  223;  lanata,  110, 

216 
Statice,  11,  27,  34,  200;  incana,  110, 

164;  bonduelli,  163,  164,  169,  177; 

latifolia,  104,  209,  210,  222;  sinu- 

ata,  mauve,  169;  Silver  Cloud,  216 
Stocks,  13;  white  and  purple,  34,  36; 

pink,  37;  Sutton's  Perfection,  45 
Stokesia  cyanea,  34,  46 
Studies  in  Gardening,  quoted,  218 
Sunflower,  Dwarf  Primrose,  177,  212 
Sweetbrier,  31 
Sweet-william,     31;    dark-red,    46; 

Sutton's  Pink  Beauty,  50 
Syringas,  31 

Thalictrum  glaucum,  yellow,  205 
Thermopsis  Caroliniana,  28,  32,  68, 

205 
Thrift,  10 
Tritonia,  73 
Tulips,  8,  19;  Kaufmanniana,  16, 17, 

82,  94,  99;  double,  20;  retroflexa, 
28,  30,  43,  93,  138,  142;  Keizer- 
kroon,  8;  Vermilion  Brilliant,  41, 

83,  124;  Flora  Wilson,  30;  Yellow 
Rose,  44,  132,  134;  Cottage  Maid, 
49,  225;  Gesneriana,  49;  Vitellina, 
82, 104;  La  Merveille,  83,  84;  Cou- 
leur  Cardinal,  20,  30,  83,  124,  138; 


233 


INDEX 


Darwin,  19.  85,  225;  Clara  Butt, 
19,  85;  Ewbank,  19,  122,  140; 
Frelage  list,  85,  86;  Vitellina,  82; 
Fanny,  Wouverman,  Carl  Becker, 
Giant,  and  Kdnigin  Emma,  Cre- 
puscule,  Faust,  Giant,  La  Candeur, 
La  Tristesse,  Mme.  Krelage,  Mar- 
garet, Mr.  F.  Sanders,  Raphael, 
Haarlem,  85;  groups:  Eubank  and 
Morales,  Faust,  Grand  Monarque, 
Purple  Perfection  and  D.  T. 
Fish,  Bronze  King,  Bronze  Queen, 
Golden  Bronze,  Dom  [Pedro,  and 
Louis  XIV,  Salmon  Prince,  Orange 
King,  Panorama,  Orange  Globe, 
and  La  Merveille,  86;  with  daffo- 
dils, peonies,  and  narcissus,  86,  87; 
Bouton  d'Or,  125;  Darwin,  Fawn, 
105;  and  Faust,  106;  grouping 
of,  104;  varieties  of,  106;  Breeder, 
106;  Flora,  117,  141;  Nauticas, 
118;  Mauve  Clair,  119;  Zomer- 
schoon,  119,  123;  Moonlight  and 
Sprengeri,  120;  Francis  Darwin 
and  Edmee,  122;  Le  Reve,  125, 
137;  border  suggested,  125,  127; 
Agneta,  132,  134;  Gudin,  134; 
William  Copeland,  134;  La  Fian- 
cee, 137;  Heloise,  138;  Hohenberg, 
138;  May-flowering,  123;  combi- 


nation with  other  plants,  124;  Pic- 
otee,  124;  Jubilee,  137;  Avis  Ken- 
nicott,  137;  among  evergreens, 
138;  Bougainville  Duran,  140; 
with  lilacs,  140;  Ewbank,  Bleu  Ce- 
leste, Morales,  Innocence,  and  La- 
candeur,  141;  "lily-flowered,"  141; 
John  Ruskin,  190 
Tulips,  Jacob,  126 

Valerian,  205;  white,  199,  200;  offi- 
cinalis, 204 

Verbena,  7,  11;  Beauty  of  Oxford, 
23,  35,  49;  Dolores,  149,  174,  177; 
venosa  violet,  213 

Viburnum,  carlesii,  188,  222;  plica- 
tum,  Japanese,  188 

Violas,  13,  30;  white,  50 

Violet,  wild,  4;  sweet,  white,  50;  dog- 
tooth, 77;  to  revive,  183 

Wistaria,  lavender,  198,  199 
Woman's  National  Farm  and  Gar- 
den Association,  181 
Wood  and  Garden,  Jekyll,  quoted,  14 

ZiKNiA,  36,  210,  212,  215,  217,  222; 
"Flesh-color,"  42,  70,  136;  cream- 
white,  164;  Isabellina,  214;  flame- 
colored,  216;  orange,  224 


2f?4 


